The World Health Organization sounded the alarm on Monday over the growing risk of disease outbreaks in Venezuela, one week after a devastating double earthquake struck the country. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told reporters in Geneva that health services are “under extreme pressure, with facilities operating beyond their capacity” due to the massive influx of casualties.
The numbers are staggering: according to Venezuela’s National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez, the official death toll has reached 1,719, with 5,034 injured. But it is the UN’s estimate that approximately 50,000 people remain unaccounted for that underscores the true scale of the disaster. The WHO has flagged “inadequate” recording of victims and missing persons, raising fears that conditions in temporary shelters and damaged infrastructure could become breeding grounds for infectious disease.
