Venezuela Earthquakes: Children Need Help Now
Highlights
- Powerful, back-to-back earthquakes hit northern Venezuela on June 24, causing widespread destruction
- UNICEF estimates that 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, need humanitarian assistance
- UNICEF is scaling up its emergency response, deploying staff and supplies, with initial air shipments already arriving
UNICEF is working with partners to provide emergency support after a pair of deadly earthquakes hit northern Venezuela. An estimated 680,000 children and their families need humanitarian assistance.
Help UNICEF reach children in need
Updated July 2, 2026
UNICEF is reaching Venezuelan children and their families with urgently needed supplies and assistance
UNICEF has activated a scaled-up emergency response to address the needs of children and families after powerful, back-to-back earthquakes struck northern Venezuela shortly after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, collapsing homes and buildings and sending people rushing into the streets.
UNICEF estimates that 1.8 million people, including 680,000 children, need humanitarian assistance following the Venezuela earthquakes. These figures are expected to evolve as access improves and further assessments are conducted.
The strongest quake to hit Venezuela in more than 100 years
The earthquakes' epicenters were in Yaracuy state west of Caracas, the capital city. A magnitude 7.2 foreshock was followed less than a minute later by a magnitude 7.5 quake — the worst to strike Venezuela in over a century. The earthquakes affected communities in the Capital District (Caracas) and the states of La Guaira, Miranda, Carabobo, Aragua, Falcón and Yaracuy. La Guaira has been declared a disaster zone.
Over 2,000 people have been killed, with thousands more injured or reported missing. Communities remain at risk from ongoing aftershocks, which have numbered more than 600 since the initial quakes. Rescue teams continue to search collapsed structures and conduct damage assessment. Preliminary satellite analysis found that nearly a third of buildings in the worst-hit areas have sustained damage.
Video: UNICEF teams are on the ground
UNICEF is working with the Government of Venezuela and partners, deploying additional staff and mobilizing supplies to reach an estimated 650,000 people, including 234,000 children, with assistance across health, nutrition, water and sanitation, child protection and education.
A first UNICEF air shipment of 20 metric tons of medical supplies, tents and water and sanitation items arrived in Valencia from UNICEF’s regional warehouse in Panama on June 27. A second shipment of 47 metric tons of humanitarian supplies mobilized from the European Union stockpile hosted at UNICEF's global supply and logistics hub in Copenhagen reached Venezuela on June 30.
The shipment contained emergency health kits for urgent medical care including supplies for safe births, newborn care and disease prevention and treatment; water purification and storage supplies to help provide safe drinking water; tents for setting up child-friendly spaces and service points; mobility aids including wheelchairs; and recreational and early childhood development supplies to help children regain a sense of normalcy and continue learning.
Together, the two shipments are expected to support more than 100,000 children and families over a period of three months.
Learn more about UNICEF emergency response
How to help Venezuelan children? Donate to UNICEF
"This shipment could not come at a more critical time for children here in Venezuela," Roberto Benes, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and that Caribbean, said on June 30. ”Families across the affected states are in urgent need of safe water, as well as access to health care. Many are sleeping outside, afraid of more aftershocks. These supplies will help us reach children and families with what they need most right now — medical care, clean water, safe spaces. But the needs on the ground are far greater than what's arrived today, and we need sustained support to keep scaling up our response."
Hospitals across La Guaira, Caracas, Carabobo, Aragua and Falcón states have sustained severe damage, pushing some facilities to critical capacity and disrupting care for children and pregnant women.
In the Capital District alone, early reporting shows that 432 schools — more than a third of all schools in the district — have been damaged, hindering children’s education; the toll is expected to be higher still in other states once assessments are complete. Authorities are using undamaged schools as temporary shelters for displaced families.
Children are among the most vulnerable when earthquakes strike. In the hours and days ahead, affected children can face injury, family separation, displacement, distress and disruptions to services including health care, safe water, education and protection.
This latest disaster comes on top of a severe economic crisis and political turmoil in Venezuela. Soaring inflation has left families unable to afford food, medicine and other essentials. Children in marginalized communities face multiple and worsening deprivations — malnutrition, preventable diseases, violence and exploitation — while overstretched services struggle to respond.
UNICEF is there before, during and after emergencies
UNICEF has been working in Venezuela for decades, delivering a child-centered, multisectoral response that combines lifesaving assistance for children with systems strengthening across health, nutrition, child protection, gender-based violence, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and disaster preparedness. UNICEF estimates that $52 million is required to respond to the earthquake emergency, as part of its wider 2026 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Venezuela, which stands at $137.6 million.
UNICEF has already mobilized approximately $3.5 million from its own internal emergency funds to enable rapid initial deployment of supplies and staff, and is calling on donors for additional, flexible funding to sustain and scale up its response to the Venezuela earthquakes.
Frequently asked questions about the Venezuela earthquakes
What happened in Venezuela during the June 2026 earthquakes?
Powerful, back-to-back earthquakes struck northern Venezuela on June 24, causing homes and buildings to collapse, damaging hospitals and schools and forcing families into the streets. Assessments are ongoing, and the full scale of the damage is still being determined.
Is there an earthquake now in Venezuela?
Aftershocks have continued since the initial earthquakes, and affected communities remain at risk as rescue and damage assessments continue. UNICEF is working with partners to reach Venezuelan children and families with urgent supplies, safe water, health support and protection services.
How is UNICEF helping children and families?
UNICEF is supporting children and families with emergency health supplies, safe water, sanitation items, tents for child-friendly spaces, early childhood development supplies and other urgently needed assistance. UNICEF is also working to restore access to essential services including health care, education and child protection.
How can supporters in the USA help Venezuela after the earthquakes?
Supporters in the USA can help Venezuela earthquake relief efforts by donating to UNICEF USA. Flexible funding helps UNICEF move quickly to deliver emergency supplies and scale up support for children and families affected by the disaster.
HOW TO HELP
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