25 teams of rescuers deployed in Venezuela from 17 different countries

At least 17 countries have mobilized a total of 25 teams, about a thousand troops, are urgently moving to Venezuela to help in the search and rescue tasks for survivors due to the double earthquake registered this Wednesday afternoon, which left 589 dead and 2,980 injured.

As reported this Friday by the spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, the “top priority” is to take these teams to the rescue areas. “Earthquakes are one of the most devastating catastrophes that can occur in any country. It is truly something terrifying. But what we are seeing right now is also international mobilization at its finest,” he noted.

“A total of 25 teams are being deployed, 17 national urban search and rescue teams, and the rest emergency medical response teams, with a total of 1,000 rescue personnel,” he detailed.

Laerke stressed that the international humanitarian system “is acting very quickly and on a large scale” to respond to the crisis in Venezuela. According to him, teams from Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States are already in Venezuela.

Likewise, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Jordan, the Netherlands, and Qatar are mobilizing additional teams to redouble search efforts.