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Guyana offers help as deadly Venezuela quakes trigger relief push
(Kaieteur News) – President Irfaan Ali has extended Guyana’s condolences and offered assistance to neighbouring Venezuela following the devastating twin earthquakes that struck the South American nation on Wednesday, leaving scores dead, hundreds injured and entire communities buried beneath rubble.
“As neighbours, we are deeply saddened by the scale, magnitude, and destruction caused by the two powerful back-to-back earthquakes that struck Caracas yesterday and so far, claiming dozens of lives and injuring hundreds. We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela. As neighbours, we are ready to offer assistance within our capacity. Our love, prayers, and thoughts are with the families of those affected and the people of Venezuela,” President Ali said.
The earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude and occurring less than a minute apart, are being described as the strongest to hit Venezuela in more than a century. The powerful tremors rocked Caracas and surrounding regions, collapsing dozens of buildings, overwhelming hospitals and forcing authorities to declare a state of emergency. Early official reports placed the death toll at more than 30 with over 700 injured, but authorities have warned that the numbers are expected to rise as rescue operations continue.
People look at a collapsed building in the Altamira neighbourhood after twin earthquakes struck Caracas and surrounding towns.
Photograph: Federico Parra/AFP/Getty Images
In Guyana, the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (R3CCI) has moved swiftly to coordinate a business-led humanitarian response.
“The Venezuelan people are facing one of the most devastating natural disasters their country has seen in living memory. R3CCI stands with them, as a chamber, as a community, and as neighbours who know that the families being pulled from the rubble in Catia La Mar and Macuto are not strangers to us. We are coordinating the Region Three business community’s response and calling on every member to step forward,” said Chamber President Bhabita Albert.
The Chamber noted that thousands of Venezuelans live and work in Region Three, with many anxiously awaiting news from relatives in some of the hardest-hit areas.
R3CCI said it will coordinate with the Civil Defence Commission and the Private Sector Commission to organise relief efforts, including the collection of food supplies, hygiene kits, water purification products and emergency medicines. It also plans to establish a public aid tracker to ensure transparency and accountability in the distribution of assistance.
Albert stressed that the initiative is focused on helping ordinary Venezuelans affected by the disaster.
“Our response is to the Venezuelan people, to the families, the civilians, the children. It is not directed to, coordinated with, or filtered through any government or political authority. Aid goes to people.”
The Chamber is also urging businesses employing Venezuelan nationals to provide support and communication access for workers attempting to contact relatives in affected areas.
As rescue teams continue to search collapsed buildings in Caracas, La Guaira, Catia La Mar and Macuto, Guyana’s government and private sector have joined a growing list of regional actors offering support to a nation grappling with one of the deadliest natural disasters in its recent history.
Aftershocks
Guyana also felt the aftershocks from the quakes with powerful storm and heavy rainfall ripping through Region Two, damaging more than 100 homes, public buildings, and private properties on Wednesday. A school teacher was also injured as the storm left the Essequibo Coast grappling with widespread power outages and structural destruction at two schools.
President Ali immediately led a senior inter-agency team to the region to conduct an on-the-ground assessment and coordinate the emergency response, joining Minister within the Ministry of Public Works Mandanlall Ramraj, Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Director General Colonel (Retired) Nazrul Hussain, and senior officials of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
Initial assessments indicate that roof damage accounts for the majority of destruction across the affected communities. Emergency responders have begun distributing tarpaulins to provide temporary cover while a full-scale damage assessment remains underway. Temporary shelter facilities have been placed on standby should displacement worsen, and power restoration crews are actively working to address major electricity disruptions across the region.
The storm inflicted significant structural damage on the Anna Regina Multilateral School and Rivers Town Primary School on the Essequibo Coast. A teacher at Rivers Town Primary was injured in the incident and is currently receiving medical attention. Reports are that a shed from the primary school fell on her head causing injuries.
The Ministry of Education confirmed it is mobilising further assistance and working closely with the Regional Administration to coordinate repairs.
“We remain in close contact with the regional administration as we begin to mobilise further assistance. Meanwhile, extensive countrywide assessments are currently being conducted,” the Ministry stated, adding that once immediate evaluations are complete, it will work alongside the relevant Regional Democratic Councils and Municipalities to ensure all structural damage is remedied as a matter of urgency.
The CDC is leading the broader damage assessment as authorities work to determine the full extent of destruction across affected communities.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) said too it received multiple reports of damage to the electricity network as a result of the squall that affected several parts of the country.
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THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
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Weekend Cartoon
Ali to the rescue – offering to help within his means ?
A NEIGHBOR trying to steal your property, yet, you offered to help ?
Ali, the prezzy is a man of all jacks.
Now, I am vain. AFTERSHOCKS ? Sure. That’s the deep ground shaking.
Powerful storm, Heavy rainfall in Region 2 ?
How did an EARTHQUAKE cause the winds, rainfall ?
A video showed zinc sheets ripping off home, swaying of large trees by wind.
That is the time when everyone should be indoors since the winds could
have been a TORNADO.