Eduardo González
At least 35 Spanish citizens have died and 244 have been evacuated since the double earthquake that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, according to the latest figures provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The number of Spanish deaths has risen to 35, while 140 are missing and eleven have been located under the rubble, where rescue teams are focusing their efforts,” sources indicated on Sunday. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterates that all consular emergency lines, which can be found on the Ministry’s and the Embassy’s social media accounts in Caracas, are open, and Spaniards in Venezuela are urged to use them,” they continued. The Embassy in Venezuela and the Spanish Consulate in Caracas are operational for the Spanish community at the following telephone numbers: +34 91 000 1249 and +58 424-2090264. So far, the Ministry’s crisis center has handled 1,052 calls. The Consulate, for its part, has handled 1,604 calls.”
According to the same sources, an Iberia flight arrived in Madrid this Thursday from Venezuela carrying 96 Spaniards, 24 Venezuelans, and nationals of France (three), the Netherlands (one), Ireland (three), Portugal (three), and Romania (one). “With today’s flight, a total of 312 people have been evacuated to Spain, of whom 244 are Spanish and 68 are of twelve other nationalities,” they added.
At least 2,645 people have died (according to the latest official figures) and around 50,000 remain missing (according to unconfirmed sources from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) as a result of the double earthquake measuring 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale that struck northern Venezuela on June 24, forty seconds apart. The damage is concentrated mainly in the states of La Guaira, Miranda, Aragua, Carabobo, Falcón, and Yaracuy, as well as Caracas, where buildings and infrastructure have been affected.
A team from the START (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) field hospital of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), made up of 44 volunteer healthcare professionals, logistics personnel, and cooks, departed this Wednesday from Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport to assist the earthquake victims. The hospital has already been deployed, as announced this Friday by Albares.
During the farewell ceremony, Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, announced an upcoming shipment of additional Spanish aid worth €300,000. “The AECID plane carrying humanitarian aid has just landed in Venezuela. It contains medical supplies, emergency kits, and other essential items to assist those affected by the earthquake,” Albares announced on social media this Thursday. According to the Ministry, in the first 24 hours after the earthquakes, AECID mobilized €1 million in urgent aid to Venezuela, channeled through the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan ambassador to Spain, Timoteo Zambrano, met this Wednesday with the State Secretary for Ibero-America and the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Susana Sumelzo, to discuss future aid for the most affected areas. During the meeting, Zambrano thanked him, “on behalf of the Republic and our fellow citizens, for all the cooperation of the Spanish Government in the days following the earthquakes of June 24,” as he wrote on the Embassy’s Instagram account.
