Venezuela's earthquakes have now killed 5,208 — and more than 120 were Portuguese or of Portuguese descent
Venezuela's earthquake toll has climbed to 5,208 dead and 16,740 injured. More than 120 Portuguese and Portuguese-descended people are among the victims.
Almost a month on, Venezuela still hasn’t been allowed to catch its breath. The official toll from the twin earthquakes of 24 June rose again on Monday to 5,208 dead — 89 more than the previous count — and 16,740 injured, according to figures presented by the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez. For Portugal, the tragedy carries a very particular weight: more than 120 Portuguese and Portuguese-descended people are among the dead, and around 50 members of the community are still unaccounted for.
How many Portuguese died in Venezuela’s earthquakes?
At least 120 of the victims were Portuguese or of Portuguese descent, in a country whose Portuguese community — overwhelmingly Madeiran in origin — is one of the largest anywhere in the world. While rescue teams keep digging, families in Portugal are living glued to their phones; anyone seeking news of a missing relative can reach the consular emergency office through the Portuguese communities portal, which is centralising requests.
The two quakes — magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, striking 38 seconds apart — hit the country’s central-north in the early evening and left entire neighbourhoods of Caracas and Valencia unrecognisable.
What help is on the ground?
Search-and-rescue teams from several countries, Portugal included, are still working through the rubble, and international aid picked up pace after Washington eased sanctions to let it through. The harder task now is sheltering hundreds of thousands of displaced people and stopping a health crisis from becoming the second tragedy. A month later, the count still hasn’t stopped climbing — and that is the most frightening part.
Image: City Vzla / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
