With search-and-rescue missions now concluded, Venezuela's earthquake-affected regions have entered a critical new phase of recovery.

Caritas Venezuela is now working to deliver shelter, food, mental health support and further social protections to the thousands left grieving, injured and homeless following June 24th's devastating earthquakes.

The current death toll has climbed past 4,000 and expected to rise, with more than 16,000 injured and tens of thousands still unaccounted for. Many survivors have lost not only loved ones but their homes and entire livelihoods, with families being forced into overcrowded living situations, leaving newly disabled and orphaned individuals especially vulnerable.

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While Development and Peace - Caritas Canada was quick to mobilize a response with an initial contribution of $50,000 to help Caritas Venezuela address the emergency just two days after the initial tremors in northwestern and central Venezuela, the team is now working through a “crisis within a major crisis” as the response shifts from immediate rescue efforts to recovery and extended aid. 

Stéphane Vinhas, the director of international programs for Development and Peace - Caritas Canada, said the situation is exacerbated by already existing humanitarian needs, political instability and various economic challenges. Making matters worse, he highlighted the region’s poor infrastructure and building practices he believes worsened the destruction. The recent disaster caused intense physical damage, estimated at $6.7 billion (U.S.), equivalent to around six per cent of the country’s GDP, according to the United Nations Development Programme. 

“These are all things that Caritas Venezuela is looking at as  an organization that was before the earthquake and is now present during the rehabilitation period. In the concept of Catholic preferential option for the poor, (we are seeing) that the people who are the most impacted by the disaster are the most vulnerable in many ways,” Vinhas said. 

Well-positioned with its trusted network of 30,000 volunteers, including recent staff relocation to impacted regions, the team remains focused on emergency aid like food, water, medicine and shelter, with longer-term accompaniment such as psychological support and even protection against unforeseen risks like human trafficking of vulnerable people now being bolstered. 

“ During the situation after the earthquake, something I have seen in Nepal and also in Venezuela, is the risk of human trafficking,” Vinhas said. “You have people taking advantage of this tragedy to come and take people who are underprotected, but Caritas Venezuela is well known in the community, and they are confident in their safety with them — that is really important.” 

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Further, the international programs director revealed that the fast-acting $50,000, as part of a larger global Caritas emergency appeal launched by Caritas Venezuela, is being used flexibly and not strictly earmarked, going toward priority sectors as they arise. 

Even with the immediate rescue phase ended, Vinhas and company stress that the reconstruction and accompaniment phase, now just beginning, is perhaps even more critical. Despite mourning the dead, the team continues to work for the good of the many survivors during their darkest days. 

As for how Canadians without boots on the ground can help, there are a few different ways. 

“ The foremost is prayer, which is about how we make other people in our lives see them not indifferently. To have them in our minds and hearts and to be reminded of their suffering is the first thing,” Vinhas said. 

Advocacy towards raising awareness of the broader Venezuelan situation and encouraging supportive policies from Canada and other governments also remains important, along with the obvious continuation of vital fund donations to support Caritas Venezuela’s ongoing aid. 

Donations can be made at devp.org, while the Archdiocese of Toronto is also accepting donations to channel funds through Catholic partners in South America to support relief efforts. Donations can be made at archtoronto.org or by calling (437) 529-1287.  

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On June 30, Randeep Sarai, Canada’s Secretary of State (International Development), announced the federal government will match donations made to the Canadian Red Cross and the Humanitarian Coalition in support of urgent relief efforts, with every donation made by individuals to these organizations from June 25 to July 14 being matched, up to a total of $4 million.

As global attention risks moving on to the next crisis, Vinhas hopes that Venezuela’s will be remembered not just in their immediate grief, but sustainably across the road to recovery that the country now finds itself on.