WHO sounds alarm on disease outbreaks in quake-hit Venezuela

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - June 30, 2026 10:10 pm IST - Geneva Aerial view of collapsed buildings in Caraballeda, La Guaira state, Venezuela, on June 30, 2026, following earthquakes. | Photo Credit: Reuters The World Health Organization voiced concerns Tuesday (June 30, 2026) about potential disease outbreaks in Venezuela with local health services overwhelmed following deadly earthquakes. "The health services are under extreme pressure now, with facilities operating beyond the capacity," spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a press conference in Geneva, noting the surge in trauma cases. By the latest official count, some 1,700 are dead and 5,000 are injured, with no governmental word on the number of missing. Other estimates place these in the tens of thousands. The WHO also said there were problems with adequately registering casualties and tracking missing persons following the 7.5- and 7.2-magnitude earthquakes. "There's an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases" such as measles and diphtheria, said Lindmeier, due to low pre-earthquake vaccination coverage, as well as yellow fever, and other vector- and water-borne diseases, including malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Zika. He said Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodriguez had reported that 38 hospitals had been affected by the twin earthquakes. As of Saturday (June 28, 2026), the WHO has gathered data from 21 health facilities across Caracas La Guaira, Miranda and Falcon. Of those, three are in critical condition; six have structural damage or are only partially functional, while the others remain operational but under "significant strain", said Mr. Lindmeier. "Preliminary findings reveal chaotic service delivery and patient flow, marked by overcrowding; growing surgical backlogs especially under mainly trauma, orthopedics, and neurosurgery; breakdown in biosafety measures; and severely stressed staff," he said. "Critical gaps include the collapse of forensic and morgue services, and inadequate casualty registration and tracking of missing persons." UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, warned that community tensions were rising in quake-hit areas due to constrained aid access. UNHCR said it needs an estimated $14.85 million to scale up protection, and provide core relief items and temporary shelter support for 30,000 earthquake-affected people over the next six months. And Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it was planning assistance for thousands of people left homeless. "As the acute search-and-rescue phase comes to an end, both the number of people killed and the needs of survivors continue to rise." It said psychological support services were being scaled up, as the needs in this field were "extremely high". Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

WHO sounds alarm on disease outbreaks in quake-hit Venezuela

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WHO sounds alarm on disease outbreaks in quake-hit Venezuela

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