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Venezuela earthquake: Aid ramps up as rescue window closes
Venezuela earthquake: Aid ramps up as rescue window closes
Dmytro Hubenko | Zac Crellin with AFP, AP, Reuters | Felix TamsutPublished 06/29/2026Published June 29, 2026last updated 06/30/2026last updated June 30, 2026Venezuela was shaken by an aftershock on Monday as rescues continued. Interim president Delcy Rodriguez said she remained hopeful about rescue operations as criticism of her government grows.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GDsLWhat you need to know
- Death toll rises to more than 1,700 and many thousands are reported missing
- Rescuers say window for finding survivors is closing
- EU, China announce additional emergency aid
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Read below for the latest developments on the ongoing earthquake response in Venezuela for Monday, June 29:
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Skip next section Machado wants to return to Venezuela and assist in coordinating recovery efforts Published 06/30/2026Published June 30, 2026last updated 06/30/2026last updated June 30, 2026Machado wants to return to Venezuela and assist in coordinating recovery efforts
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she will return to Venezueladue to the earthquakes in the country.
"I will be in Venezuela to help coordinate and encourage citizens' efforts during the emergency," she posted on her X account, without providing further details about the timing of her trip to her native country.
The opposition leader has made contact with several US administration officials to support her return to Venezuela, Reuters reported.
Machado, who is currently in Panama, has been living in hiding in Venezuela since claiming victory in the disputed 2024 election.
She is also a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, which she later handed to US President Donald Trump.
However, the Trump administration prefers Acting President Delcy Rodriguez. Trump believes that Machado does not have the support to lead the country at the present time.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GHZCSkip next section Hotel with more than 140 deportees from the US collapses06/30/2026June 30, 2026Hotel with more than 140 deportees from the US collapses
Wesley Dockery EditorA hotel hosting some 140 people deported from the US to Venezuelacollapsed in the devastating earthquake that hit the country.
Just hours before the earthquake took place, a plane carrying 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, arrived in Venezuela from Miami, according to ICEFlight Monitor, a human rights initiative that tracks deportation flights.
The deportees were transported to a hotel in La Guaira, located in the area that was hit the hardest by the earthquake, so that the Venezuelan authorities will be able to process their arrival.
Most people are now believed to have been killed.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GHRCSkip next section UN to provide Venezuela with 10,000 body bags06/29/2026June 29, 2026UN to provide Venezuela with 10,000 body bags
Fearing more deaths from twin earthquakes in Venezuela, the United Nations said it will provide the country with 10,000 body bags, according to the AFP news agency.
Gianluca Rampolla del Tindaro, the UN's coordinator for Venezuela, declined to speculate beyond the official figures. However, he said, "We are definitely looking at a number higher than the one already reported."
"I can give you a proxy indicator. We are procuring, and this is something that has been agreed with the authorities here, 10,000 body bags," Rampolla del Tindaro told a virtual news conference.
"That is somehow applying assumption, and it's very sad, and we truly hope that actually the number is going to be smaller than that," he added.
The latest data shows that the death toll from the earthquakes in Venezuela has surpassed 1,700.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GGxjSkip next section Death toll from earthquakes rises to more than 1,70006/29/2026June 29, 2026Death toll from earthquakes rises to more than 1,700
The death toll from the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela five days ago has risen to at least 1,719, according to National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez.
In an address on state television, Rodriguez added that the disaster left more than 5,000 people wounded and more than 15,000 people homeless.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GGtVSkip next section US Marines repair quake-hit La Guaira port06/29/2026June 29, 2026US Marines repair quake-hit La Guaira port
US Marines were working to repair the quake-hit port of La Guaira to allow delivery of supplies and equipment by sea, according to an AFP report citing a US administration official.
La Guaira, located on Venezuela's northern coast, is one of the country's two main ports.
A "specialized team of Marines" is "working around the clock to repair that port and allow the delivery of critical supplies by sea," a US official told journalists on condition of anonymity.
The official added that the USS Fort Lauderdale, an amphibious transport dock warship, had also docked there.
US airmen are already helping to restore traffic at Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas, which was also damaged in one of the worst earthquakes in Latin American history. The airport has partially reopened to cargo and aid flights.
Hopes fade of finding Venezuela quake survivors
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https://p.dw.com/p/5GGrlSkip next section US doubles aid commitment to $300 million06/29/2026June 29, 2026US doubles aid commitment to $300 million
The United States increased its aid commitment to $300 million (€263 million), up from a previous commitment of $150 million, the State Department announced on Monday.
Much of the funds will be directed towards partner organizations including Samaritan's Purse, Catholic Relief Services, the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program and the Red Cross.
"These funds will provide emergency medical care, food assistance, water and sanitation, shelter, protection, and logistics," the State Department said.
The US has also dispatched four search-and-rescue teams totaling hundreds of responders, and has deployed military aircraft and navy ships to support "relief logistics on the ground."
The US assistance to Venezuela comes after American forces kidnapped then President Nicolas Maduro in January, with ties warming under the leadership of interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GGC0Skip next section EU to send 50 tons of shelter, sanitation equipment and educational supplies06/29/2026June 29, 2026EU to send 50 tons of shelter, sanitation equipment and educational supplies
The European Commission has shared more details about its aid commitment to Venezuela.
In addition to €5 million worth of aid pledged over the weekend, the EU will also provide a "humanitarian air bridge" to deliver essential supplies to affected areas.
A cargo flight carrying around 50 tons of shelter material, water and sanitation equipment, and education supplies is set to depart from Copenhagen later this week.
"The EU remains committed to helping the Venezuelan people, and we are doing so with all the tools at our disposal," said the EU's commissioner for preparedness and crisis management, Hadja Lahbib, said on Monday.
"This additional funding and supplies will provide much needed help to families who lost their homes, patients in need of medical assistance or children whose schools have been damaged."
She said that 14 EU countries had "already" contributed to this aid operation. This included a team of technical experts from Spain, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium and Estonia that arrived in Venezuela over the weekend.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GG78Skip next section 4.6-magnitude aftershock rocks Venezuela06/29/2026June 29, 20264.6-magnitude aftershock rocks Venezuela
Venezuela experienced a 4.6-magnitude aftershock on Monday morning as rescuers combed through rubble.
The aftershock struck some 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the capital Caracas, according to the US Geological Survey.
Venezuelan authorities said there was no additional damage.
"There are no reports of additional damage anywhere in the country," the speaker of Venezuela's Parliament, Jorge Rodriguez, said on social media.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GFrHSkip next section Argentine soccer player's family killed in earthquakes06/29/2026June 29, 2026Argentine soccer player's family killed in earthquakes
The wife and two children of Argentine footballer Lucas Trejo have been confirmed dead.
Trejo plays for the second-division team Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira, based near the epicenter of disaster. He had been away at a training camp in Caracas when the quakes struck.
The soccer player searched for his wife and children among the rubble for three days before rescue workers were able to finally recover their bodies, US media reported.
"Club Sport Maritimo La Guaira deeply mourns the irreparable loss of our player's wife and children," the team said in a post on Instagram on Sunday.
The club also mourned several other membersof its community, including three players who belonged to the under-17s team, the under 15s team and the under-12s team, respectively.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GFN7Skip next section Anger directed towards Venezuelan state emergency response06/29/2026June 29, 2026Anger directed towards Venezuelan state emergency response
Venezuelan authorities have faced accusations of slow or inadequate disaster relief in the days as the dust settles from last week's twin earthquakes.
One volunteer in the city of Tucasas told the AFP news agency that it was "frustrating" to know that some victims could have been saved "if they'd been searched for in time."
Another man in Tanaguarena made a plea for soldiers to pick up shovels: "The country needs you. Put down your weapon."
More than a decade of sanctions combined with systemic corruption and mismanagement have severely weakened the country’s emergency response systems. The most recent political crisis when the United States kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro has put further strain on the state.
"There is political interference by the United States, the operational incompetence of a government that has driven the country into a complex humanitarian crisis and, all of the sudden, an earthquake in a place that lacks human capital and short-term resources to address the situation," Ronal Rodriguez, researcher for the Colombia-based Venezuelan Observatory, told Reuters.
Phil Gunson, a senior analyst and Venezuela expert at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera that "the government response is anything from totally non-existent to, at best, completely inadequate."
He said emergency responders "lack budgets, personnel, equipment, leadership and planning."
And as civilians at home and abroad mobilize to provide much needed essential goods to some 12,000 people who have been displaced, more accusations against state authorities have
The New York Times reported on Sunday that some members of the opposition accused the Venezuelan government of politicizing disaster relief by enforcing organizations can collect donated goods, and where.
IN PHOTOS: Rescue efforts continue in Venezuela
Rescuers race against time to find remaining survivors
Rescue teams in Venezuela are racing against time to find remaining survivors as well as victims, more than four days after the twin earthquakes struck.
The official death toll climbed to 1,450 over the weekend.
On Sunday, interim president Delcy Rodriguez said, "We have recovered people alive and, therefore, operations are not being suspended. We always maintain hope."
But the chances of finding survivors become slimmer with each passing day.
"There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive," Sebastian Eugster, the leader of the 80-member Swiss rescue team, told Reuters.
The Venezuelan government said hundreds of people remaining missing or trapped under rubble. Meanwhile, a website promoted by the country's opposition lists around 50,000 still unaccounted for.
Venezuela rescuers finding quake survivors against the odds
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https://p.dw.com/p/5GDt8Skip next section More emergency aid announced for Venezuela06/29/2026June 29, 2026More emergency aid announced for Venezuela
With some 12,700 people displaced and more than 770 buildings collapsed, efforts are underway to provide support to those in need.
China announced a fresh package of humanitarian aid for Venezuela on Monday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was donating emergency supplies worth 100 million yuan (€12.9 million; $14.7 million) to Venezuela.
The announcement comes after the European Union said on Sunday it would provide further aid and technical support.
"The EU has already mobilized €5 million in emergency assistance for affected communities," the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a post on X.
"The EU’s Copernicus satellite system is supporting emergency responders by helping to map the damage and target assistance where it is needed most," she added.
Dozens of countries have announced aid in the days following the quake.
Over the weekend, US officials hinted that millions more in assistance could be announced in the coming days on top of the $150 million that has already been committed by the Trump administration.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GDt9Skip next section Welcome to our coverage06/29/2026June 29, 2026Welcome to our coverage
Roshni Majumdar EditorWelcome to our coverage of the Venezuelan earthquake response, after 7.2 and 7.5 quakes struck the South American nation last week.
Emergency crews continued working to find survivors over the weekend, but the window for rescues is quickly closing.
The focus is also shifting to providing emergency aid to more than 12,000 people who have been displaced.
Follow DW for the latest updates.
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