The United States has increased its assistance to Venezuela in the wake of devastating earthquakes, deploying 900 military personnel and 100 State Department officials to aid in relief and rescue operations. The deployment comes as Venezuelan doctors express growing concern over the risk of infections among survivors, a week after the initial tremors struck.
Thousands of displaced Venezuelans are living in crowded shelters or without adequate sanitation and access to clean water, conditions that medical professionals fear will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. Eugenio Cova, head of the trauma unit at Hospital del Oeste Dr. José Gregor Hernández in Caracas, stated that untreated wounds pose a significant risk for infectious diseases. The hospital itself has faced shortages of critical medical equipment, including supplies needed for orthopedic surgery and medicated gauze, and has had parts of its facility rendered inaccessible due to earthquake damage. The Venezuelan government reported that 38 hospitals nationwide have sustained damage.
"The issue we foresee just around the corner are the infections that patients who have been exposed to the disaster for the longest time might bring," Cova said. "We’ve already gone through the period of complex trauma — which will continue to occur — but now it’s complicated by infections."
Despite the narrowing window for finding survivors, rescue teams from more than two dozen countries continue to search through rubble. Against the typical 48 to 72-hour survival limit for those trapped, a small number of individuals, including a toddler found six days after the quake, have been rescued.
Venezuelan officials reported over 1,900 deaths as of Tuesday, with thousands more still missing. A non-governmental digital database for registering missing persons indicated that over 40,600 people remained unaccounted for as of Wednesday, leaving many families in distress as they await news of their loved ones.