{"id":1313,"date":"2026-06-30T16:42:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:42:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:42:03","slug":"aid-workers-warn-of-infectious-diseases-overwhelmed-hospitals-after-venezuela-quakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=1313","title":{"rendered":"Aid workers warn of infectious diseases, overwhelmed hospitals after Venezuela quakes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 Aid groups warned Tuesday that Venezuela\u2019s fragile healthcare system is being pushed to its limits nearly a week after two powerful earthquakes<\/span>, with damaged and understaffed hospitals overwhelmed by the injured and deteriorating conditions in the disaster zone causing infectious diseases to spread.<\/p>\n

Read more Congo bans gatherings in areas far from Ebola outbreak. Some say it limits dissent<\/a><\/p>\n

The scores of international and domestic teams across Venezuela remain focused on the search for survivors<\/span>, with the government death toll surpassing 1,700<\/span> and new bodies still being hauled<\/span> out from the rubble.<\/p>\n

But a humanitarian crisis is already unfolding among the living. United Nations agencies expressed concern about the health effects of thousands of displaced people sleeping for days in the open or in crowded, unsanitary shelters.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan officials say that more than 15,800 people have been affected by the earthquakes \u2014 a figure that reflects the official number of displaced people, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Carlotta Wolf said on Tuesday. Suddenly homeless Venezuelans are sleeping in cars,<\/span> parks and elsewhere without adequate emergency shelter available.<\/p>\n

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Wolf said that number would continue to rise. Many of those displaced in the hardest-hit state of La Guaira are suffering from widespread food shortages, she said.<\/p>\n

At a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, World Health Organization<\/span> spokesperson Christian Lindmeier warned that displaced Venezuelans without access to toilets, showers, soap or much nourishing food have become increasingly vulnerable to the outbreak of preventable diseases like measles<\/span>, given the population\u2019s low vaccination rates. Conditions are ripe for waterborne infections like dengue, yellow fever and malaria to spread.<\/p>\n

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The Venezuelan healthcare system, strained by decades of underinvestment<\/span> and years of economic crisis<\/span> is \u201cunder extreme pressure now, with facilities operating beyond the capacity of the surge of the trauma cases,\u201d Lindmeier said.<\/p>\n

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According to the government, last week\u2019s earthquakes damaged or otherwise compromised 38 hospitals nationwide. WHO said it so far has evaluated 21 of those facilities, three of which are no longer operating. Another six have sustained damage and the rest are now buckling under the influx of injuries.<\/p>\n

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