CARACAS, Venezuela — Seven days after a pair of catastrophic earthquakes struck Venezuela, medical professionals are sounding the alarm about a new threat facing those who survived: festering wounds and the spread of infectious disease.
Thousands of Venezuelans left homeless by the June 24 earthquakes are now crowded into makeshift shelters or sleeping outdoors, with little access to clean water and deteriorating sanitation conditions. Relief workers say the situation has evolved into a full-blown medical emergency that could claim additional lives in the coming days and weeks if not addressed urgently.
“The issue we foresee just around the corner are the infections that patients who have been exposed to the disaster for the longest time might bring,” said Eugenio Cova, who leads the trauma unit at Hospital del Oeste Dr. José Gregor Hernández in the capital, Caracas.
That hospital has treated large numbers of critically injured patients since the earthquakes struck, even while dealing with a shortage of vital medical supplies. Cova noted that portions of the facility are now off-limits due to potential earthquake damage, and that the hospital is running low on orthopedic hardware such as screws and plates, as well as medicated gauze needed to ward off infections. The government has reported that 38 hospitals across the country were damaged or otherwise affected by the quakes.
“We’ve already gone through the period of complex trauma — which will continue to occur — but now it’s complicated by infections,” Cova added.
Even as the chances of finding people alive beneath the rubble grow slimmer with each passing day, specialized rescue teams from more than two dozen nations pushed forward Wednesday with their search operations. Survival odds typically drop sharply after 48 to 72 hours under debris, yet crews have continued to pull out a small number of living people — including a toddler discovered alive after being trapped for six days on Tuesday.
The United States, which assumed control of Venezuela’s oil industry following the seizure of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, has ramped up its involvement in recent days. As of Wednesday, 900 U.S. military personnel are on the ground supporting rescue and relief operations, according to Steven McCloud, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command, who spoke with The Associated Press. An additional 100 U.S. State Department personnel have also been deployed to assist with aid efforts, McCloud said.
Venezuelan authorities have confirmed more than 1,900 deaths as of Tuesday, a number that continues to climb. Thousands more people remain missing, leaving the true scope of the disaster uncertain and families in an agonizing wait outside collapsed buildings, hoping to recover the remains of their loved ones. One private online database where families can report missing relatives showed more than 40,600 people still unaccounted for as of Wednesday.
