Venezuela Earthquakes: Children Need Help Now
UNICEF is providing emergency support for children and families affected by a pair of deadly earthquakes in northern Venezuela. More help is urgently needed.
UNICEF's emergency response is already underway
Local UNICEF teams are on the ground working to deliver urgent, lifesaving support to children and families after powerful, back-to-back earthquakes hit northern Venezuela shortly after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, collapsing homes and buildings and sending people rushing into the streets.
The strongest quake to hit Venezuela in more than 100 years
The earthquakes' epicenter was about 160 miles 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 state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, was reportedly hardest hit.
Early reports indicate that 188 people have been killed and more than 1,500 injured; those figures are almost certain to rise as rescue workers continue to search for survivors in the worst-affected areas.
How to help children in Venezuela? Donate to UNICEF
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 works across Venezuela, 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. Before the earthquakes, UNICEF's 2026 humanitarian appeal for Venezuela was already underfunded.
UNICEF is there before, during and after emergencies
UNICEF prepares for emergencies by pre-positioning supplies ahead of earthquakes and other environmental shocks, while supporting municipal governments and local institutions to conduct child-sensitive disaster risk assessments and implement preparedness and resilience measures.
A flight estimated to reach Venezuela on June 29 from UNICEF's Global Supply hub in Copenhagen will carry 48 metric tons of medical equipment and WASH supplies, including wheelchairs, body bags, first aid kits, tents, AWD (acute watery diarrhea) kits and water purification tablets and water tanks.
In the hours and days ahead, children will need protection, psychosocial support, safe water, health care and safe spaces as communities recover from the shock and destruction.
Learn more about how UNICEF helps children in Venezuela
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
