LA GUAIRA, Venezuela, June 30, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Tens of thousands of people 
urgently need food and shelter in Venezuela due to the devastation from two 
huge earthquakes that killed more than 1,700 and injured 5,000, the UN said 
on Tuesday, as doctors warned of potential outbreaks of disease.

Last week's 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes -- the strongest to hit the country 
in more than a century -- have left tens of thousands unaccounted for and 
prompted a frantic search and rescue operation for survivors trapped in the 
rubble of flattened buildings.

The UN refugee agency said "food shortages are widespread, basic services 
have broken down, and connectivity has been largely severed" in the port city 
of La Guaira, north of the capital, Caracas.

"Community tensions are rising as access to assistance remains constrained," 
UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Wolf said.

The agency said it needed some $14.85 million to scale-up protection, core 
relief items and temporary shelter for 30,000 earthquake-affected people over 
six months.

The quakes likely damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings, according to a 
preliminary assessment of satellite data published by NASA.

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said health services 
in Venezuela were overstretched and under "extreme pressure" due to demand.

"There's an increased risk now of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases" 
such as measles and diptheria, due to low pre-earthquake vaccination 
coverage.

Higher risks were also possible of yellow fever, malaria, dengue, chikungunya 
and Zika, he told reporters in Geneva.

- Bare hands -

AFP on Monday saw black body bags containing victims of the quake lined up 
near a makeshift morgue at the dock in La Guaira, where many people had come 
for news of their loved ones or to identify their remains.

Darvin Silva, 37, described how he battled to reach his mother, who died 
under a pillar in a collapsed building.

"The effort it took me to get her out of there with my bare hands, with 
sledgehammers, with pickaxes... you can't even begin to imagine," he said.

"I hope that I can now offer her the rest she deserves... I can't sleep 
peacefully as long as my mother is here," he said of the morgue.

Rayza Leon said her mother, brother, his wife and six children -- three boys 
and three girls -- were all trapped, and only five of the nine survived.

"The three boys were rescued, as well as him and his wife. My mother is still 
under the rubble with my five-year-old niece, and we brought the twin girls 
here, they're seven years old," she added.

The critical 72-hour window during which survivors were still likely to be 
found closed on Saturday evening.

But rescuers in hard hats and high-visibility vests were still picking 
through the twisted metal and shattered concrete.

"We've rescued 38 people so far -- 16 alive and 22 dead," said one volunteer, 
Moises Faramalla Perez.

"But we're still on the ground, trying to find one more person alive. That's 
where we are now."

Around 50,000 people are still listed as missing, according to the UN.

- Body bags -

Some seven million people in Venezuela would be affected by the disaster, the 
UN has said, with the quakes knocking a $6.7-billion hole in the economy -- 
or six percent of Venezuela's GDP.

Residents are not hiding their anger over the government's slow and limited 
aid in a country mired in a deep crisis that has driven millions to emigrate 
in recent years.

A total of 27 countries have mobilized nearly 40 search and rescue teams. 
They include more than 2,000 troops and personnel, along with more than 160 
dogs, according to Gianluca Rampolla, the UN coordinator in Venezuela.

The world body is providing 10,000 body bags, though it hopes the final toll 
will be lower.

At the only public cemetery in Caracas, the two crematory ovens have been 
working at full capacity.

Between Friday and Sunday, 60 to 70 burials were held each day.

Back at the makeshift morgue, many are still waiting for the remains of their 
loved ones who are presumed dead.

"My family is there -- I'm told my sister and her children are there, as well 
as the children of my brother," Wilker Molalla told AFP as he waited to 
identify the remains.

"There were 11 people in my household; only two of us survived because we 
were at work," he said, referring to his brother.