The AECID field hospital has already treated more than 200 people in Venezuela

Eduardo González The START (Spanish Technical Aid Response Team) field hospital, deployed last week in Venezuela to assist earthquake victims, has already treated more than 200 people through surgical procedures and psychological support, as reported this Monday by AECID and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. Currently, the death toll from the double earthquake of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale, which struck northern Venezuela on June 24 with a forty-second interval, is more than 3,300, according to the latest official figures, and approximately 50,000 people remain missing, according to unconfirmed sources from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. In the case of Spaniards, the latest figures are 35 dead, 139 missing, and eleven people trapped under the rubble, as confirmed this Monday by José Manuel Albares on the TVE program 'La hora de La 1'. “The Consulate and the Embassy are fully operational with their emergency phone lines, as is the crisis unit, which has been open since the very first minute at the Ministry's central services, here at its headquarters, available to family members, friends, and any Spaniard who has not yet contacted us,” he assured. “We have received nearly 3,000 calls in recent days,” he specified. “Of course, Spanish solidarity will continue alongside the brotherly people of Venezuela for as long as necessary,” the minister affirmed, noting that, “in addition to the rescuers and rescue dogs from the UME (Military Emergency Unit, Ministry of Defense) and the firefighters (from the Emergency and Immediate Response Team of the Community of Madrid, ERICAM), the emergency hospital of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) has been deployed for two days now.” “Just yesterday, 200 people were treated at that hospital, undergoing surgical procedures, providing psychological support, addressing all kinds of needs at this time, and assisting the Venezuelan healthcare system,” he specified. In this regard, AECID reported this Monday on social media that 216 people have already been treated at the START field hospital in Venezuela. “Behind every instance of care is an extraordinary team of volunteer healthcare workers, logisticians, and local staff. Thank you for your dedication. We continue working from seven in the morning until seven at night in the park of “East, Caracas,” he added. Furthermore, he continued, “a one million euro aid package has already been channeled through the International Federation of the Red Cross,” and also “a second package of 300,000 euros to provide shelter materials for the many people who have lost everything, starting with their homes.” Regarding the criticism leveled at the government of Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, for a lack of coordination in the earthquake response, from NGOs, rescue teams, and journalists present at the epicenter, Albares asserted that what he hears “daily” from those leading the operation (including the director of the AECID, Antón Leis, and several humanitarian aid directors from the Agency) is that “the collaboration with the Venezuelan authorities is complete and positive.” “The team has been able to deploy at all times, both the rescuers and all the equipment and the field hospital, which has been assigned a specific location: Parque Este in Caracas.” "Caracas," he specified.

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