New Delhi: India’s HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief) mission to Venezuela, Operation Amistad, concluded on Monday, with its Army Field Hospital, attached to the Indian Army’s 50th Parachute Brigade, wrapping up a week of treating people injured in the June 24 earthquakes. The Ministry of External Affairs said the hospital had provided timely medical care throughout its deployment, while the Indian embassy in Caracas said the medical team had left a lasting impression on the people of Venezuela.
Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yvan Gil, visited the field hospital before it closed and thanked the Indian government on the country’s behalf, crediting the prime minister, Narendra Modi, for extending support to Venezuela during the crisis. Gil made the visit alongside India’s ambassador to Venezuela, PK Ashok Babu, and described the hospital as a mark of solidarity between the two nations.
Survivors and their families also expressed gratitude to the Indian team, including a woman whose son was treated for a fractured leg at the facility.
Death toll 3,685
Meanwhile, the death toll from the twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has climbed to 3,685, with 16,740 others injured, according to Jorge Rodriguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly. The update, shared on Rodriguez’s Telegram channel, said 17,907 people have been left homeless by the disaster.
On June 24, twin earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5, struck off Venezuela’s northern coast west of Caracas, with the larger tremor following the first by less than a minute, according to the US Geological Survey. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the country in more than a century. Since then, Venezuela has recorded 1,076 aftershocks, according to the update. Authorities have set up 80 temporary camps for those affected, and 29,567 rescuers remain deployed in the search for survivors, including 3,281 personnel from abroad.
The disaster had drawn a wide international response in the days after it struck. The European Union mobilized more than 520 rescuers from eight member states, according to the European Commission’s civil protection agency. The US, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Türkiye had also sent search-and-rescue teams, medical staff and equipment in the immediate aftermath of the earthquakes.
Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, declared seven days of national mourning for the victims, saying the country’s “soul is torn” by the losses caused by the earthquakes. The disaster also damaged Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas, disrupting air traffic. Rodriguez said commercial flights would resume using an alternative runway as soon as possible.