Two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela's coastal state of La Guaira on Wednesday evening, collapsing buildings and severely damaging the main international airport, pushing an already fragile healthcare system past its limits. By Friday afternoon, authorities reported nearly 3,400 injured and a death toll approaching 1,000 nationwide, with more than 200 aftershocks recorded.
Immediate impact on healthcare centers
The first wave of patients included survivors with crush injuries and multiple fractures after being pulled from rubble. Physicians warn the crisis is entering a more dangerous phase as people trapped for days arrive with kidney failure, crush syndrome, and limbs that cannot be saved. Skin infections, gastrointestinal illnesses, and psychological trauma are expected in coming weeks.
At one outpatient clinic in La Guaira on Thursday, electricity was available only through a backup generator powering the vaccine refrigerator. Patients lay on mattresses, benches, and the parking lot pavement because treatment rooms were full. Doctors improvised additional care areas outside the building.
Long-standing healthcare weaknesses
The earthquakes are testing a healthcare system weakened by years of economic collapse, shortages, and the exodus of medical workers. Public hospitals entered the disaster with shortages of emergency supplies and surgical material, about half the hospital beds they once had, and largely obsolete radiology equipment.
According to Huníades Urbina, a pediatric intensive care physician and member of Venezuela's National Academy of Medicine, around 30% of the country's physicians and 70% of its nurses have left Venezuela over the past decade, citing figures from the Venezuelan Medical Federation. “This new national tragedy strikes while Venezuela remains in a prolonged humanitarian emergency,” Urbina said. “We already lacked the capacity to care for patients on an ordinary day. Imagine what happens when hundreds of people emerge from collapsed buildings needing emergency treatment.”
Struggles at Ricardo Baquero González Hospital
At Ricardo Baquero González Hospital in Caracas, nurses, physicians, and medical students worked through the night after the earthquakes. The hospital had only 12 nurses on duty, but “they multiplied themselves by 10,” said Jaime Lorenzo, director of the nonprofit organization Médicos Unidos de Venezuela.
By 10 p.m. Wednesday, just four hours after the quakes, the hospital had exhausted critical supplies including elastic bandages and tetanus vaccines. Residents began arriving with whatever they could spare, including one man who donated diapers that had belonged to his late mother.
Venezuela's healthcare system was struggling long before the earthquakes, Lorenzo added. Patients routinely pay out-of-pocket for diagnostic tests and are often expected to bring their own medical supplies.
