About 2,000 U.S. service members are supporting relief efforts in Venezuela after last week’s devastating earthquakes, according to the head of the U.S. military’s Southern Command.
“The U.S. military, the Department of War, has roughly 2,000 teammates in the area on land, air and sea around Venezuela,” Gen. Francis Donovan said in a briefing Wednesday. “They are working hard daily to help in the search and rescue efforts, to help in the recovery efforts to deliver needed supplies.”
Donovan told reporters that the focus right now is looking for survivors — Wednesday marked the seventh day since the two earthquakes.
“In these situations, you have anywhere from 3 to 7 days that you have to respond to hopefully recover people that are still living and maybe injured in the rubble,” Donovan said.
Venezuela’s government on Wednesday said over 2,000 people have died as a result of the earthquakes, and over 10,000 were injured.
Shortly after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, the U.S. military helped fly in about 310 specialists from urban search and rescue teams who are now on the ground, according to John Barrett, the chargé d’affaires for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. He said they have rescued five survivors, including a mother and her toddler.
After the U.S. military conducted an overnight raid in January to capture Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration outlined a three-phase plan for Venezuela that consisted of stabilization, economic recovery and transition with free and fair elections.
“That reconstruction looks a little bit different, of course, since the devastating earthquake, but the economic recovery had already begun,” Barrett said. “I’m focused right now on saving lives, but we will get back to Phase 2 and Venezuela’s economic recovery.”
Barrett said the U.S. has provided over $300 million in humanitarian assistance since the disaster.
U.S. Southern Command in a statement listed support from the military, including a coordination cell to transport humanitarian aid. Some of the teams on the ground include a specialized Army medical unit to provide surgical support and a U.S. Marine Combat Logistics Company that has a water purification system, a mobile potable water container, and a military-grade tow truck.
Barrett told reporters that removing the debris from collapsed buildings would be a “huge task.”
“We will continue to work with the Venezuelan people to adjust these needs, including sanitation, water, energy generation, and we will continue along that path as long as it takes,” Barrett said.
When asked about the scale of the U.S. military support, Gen. Donovan said each crisis is different but the current support is probably larger than what was provided after Hurricane Melissa last year in Jamaica but smaller than after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
“We are focused on saving lives right now, finding folks still in the rubble and setting conditions for logistics, you know, delivery of relief supplies, so right now it’s what we call ‘full speed ahead,'” Donovan said.
