Amnesty International urges rights-centered recovery after June 2026 Venezuela earthquakes

# What happened

On June 24, 2026, two earthquakes struck Venezuela, damaging buildings and infrastructure in densely populated areas including Caracas. The quakes worsened an already severe humanitarian situation: the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 7.9 million people needed humanitarian support at the start of 2026 because of economic stagnation, inflation, and strained public services.

# Amnesty International's findings

Amnesty conducted interviews with affected families and carried out investigations on the ground. The organization found evidence of poor and delayed official disaster response. People told Amnesty they had to improvise rescue tools or remove rubble with their hands. Interviewees reported that police, military, and intelligence personnel were used for surveillance and territorial control rather than to assist in rescues.

# Legal and operational barriers to aid

# Venezuelan authorities to do

Amnesty's recommendations are concrete and rights-focused:

• Publish transparent, updated figures and create a single registry of victims to help locate missing people.
• Ensure access to housing and government support without discrimination.
• Provide medical care and psychosocial support to affected people.
• Operate temporary shelters and implement clear plans for reconstruction of homes.
• Repeal the 2024 anti-NGO law to remove legal and financial barriers that block civil society aid.

# Existing assistance and discrepancies

Official and international figures show some humanitarian assistance has reached affected populations, but gaps remain. The UN OCHA figure for people who had accessed assistance (nearly 364,000 as of August 2026) illustrates outreach, while divergent death tolls point to inconsistent reporting and challenges for families trying to find missing relatives.

# Immediate practical implications

For families and communities, delays in coordinated search-and-rescue, lack of official information, and restricted NGO activity increase the risk that people will go without basic aid and that missing-person cases remain unresolved. For humanitarian organizations, the legal framework complicates planning, funding and rapid deployment of relief.

# Short checklist for policymakers (based on Amnesty's recommendations)

• Publish a consolidated victims registry and regular situational updates.
• Lift administrative and legal barriers that impede NGO operations and funding.
• Prioritize search-and-rescue capacity and transparent reporting of missing and deceased persons.
• Allocate resources to temporary shelter, health services, and reconstruction planning.

# Bottom line