The World Bank has said that the powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela in late June caused an estimated $19.6 billion in physical damage, underscoring the country’s challenging path to recovery. The Venezuela earthquake damage assessment offers the clearest picture yet of the disaster’s scale nearly a month after it struck.
In a statement on Thursday, the World Bank said 47 percent of the damage occurred to residential buildings, while 27 percent affected infrastructure and 26 percent hit non-residential buildings.
World Bank: “Recovering Effectively Begins With Reliable Evidence”
“The earthquakes have disrupted lives, damaged critical infrastructure, and created new challenges for Venezuela’s recovery,” said Susana Cordeiro Guerra, the World Bank’s vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. “Recovering effectively begins with reliable evidence.”
Government authorities have estimated that the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 killed at least 5,000 people and injured nearly 17,000. An additional 18,000 people remain homeless, as the country struggles to recover from the destruction amid persistent economic hardship.
A Disaster Layered on Existing Poverty
Even before the earthquakes struck, the World Bank estimated that 76 percent of Venezuelans, already suffering from years of economic mismanagement and crushing US sanctions, were living in poverty. “Without timely additional investment, the negative impact on productive capacity and living standards will slow the path to recovery,” Cordeiro Guerra said.
The World Bank says its estimate is intended to give the Venezuelan government and organisations hoping to assist with recovery efforts reliable data on the scale of the challenges ahead.
How the Damage Was Assessed
The report, conducted using Global Rapid Damage Estimation (GRADE) methodology, found that La Guaira state and Distrito Capital were the most severely affected areas. The estimate draws on local seismic data, remote-based earthquake modelling, satellite imagery, and damage reports from government and humanitarian organisations.
Where Will Recovery Funding Come From?
While countries around the world have pledged support for Venezuela, it remains unclear where the funds for recovery might ultimately come from.
The United States, which has exercised substantial control over Venezuelan affairs since abducting the country’s former leader, Nicolas Maduro, in a military raid in January, announced on Thursday that it would give more than $200 million to the Red Cross to assist people affected by conflict and natural disasters. “Today’s contributions support organisations that respond quickly when disasters strike, provide unparalleled access to people in need in conflict settings, and leverage preexisting worldwide disaster and humanitarian response infrastructure,” the diplomatic mission said in a statement. Those funds, however, do not appear to be targeted specifically at Venezuela.
