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🇻🇪 Venezuela /Disasters & Emergencies

Human Rights Group Questions Venezuela's Official Earthquake Casualty Figures

From El Nacional · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • The Venezuelan human rights organization Provea has questioned official earthquake death and injury tolls provided by National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez.
  • Provea cited inconsistencies in the reported numbers, noting a small increase in fatalities over a 24-hour period.
  • The organization demands transparency and access for independent bodies to verify data related to the national tragedy.

The Venezuelan Program for Education-Action in Human Rights (Provea) has questioned National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez's latest figures on fatalities and injuries resulting from the strong earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday. The NGO expressed doubts through its social media account, stating that official earthquake figures in Venezuela generate more questions than certainties.

Provea highlighted inconsistencies in the reported numbers, pointing out that on Saturday, June 27, Jorge Rodríguez reported 1,430 deaths, but 24 hours later, the figure increased to 1,450, indicating only a 20-death increase in a full day. The organization emphasized the need for zero opacity in the response to this national tragedy and demanded that the state permit access for civil society and independent organizations to verify and cross-reference the data.

Venezuela: official figures of the earthquake generate more doubts than certainties. On Saturday #27Jun Jorge Rodríguez reported 1430 deaths, 24 hours later he reports 1450, only 20 deaths in one day. We demand that the State allow civil society and independent organizations access...

— PROVEAProvea's statement on X questioning the official earthquake death toll.

Regarding the number of injured, the legislator reported on Sunday that 1,450 people had died following the two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 that occurred on Wednesday. He also stated there were 3,150 injured, despite reporting a total of 3,238 on Saturday, without providing details for this reduction. Additionally, Rodríguez announced that 12,721 families are displaced. He also reported the presence of 2,624 rescuers with 137 dogs, 49 support vehicles, and 84.8 tons of equipment, medicines, and surgical supplies.

Early Sunday morning, a delegation from India arrived in the country to set up a field hospital, and a group of rescuers from Costa Rica also arrived, according to the Ministry of Communication and Information. However, the discrepancies in the official figures continue to raise concerns among human rights organizations and the public.

We demand that the State permit access for civil society and independent organizations to verify and cross-reference the data. We need zero opacity in the response to this national tragedy.

— PROVEAProvea's call for transparency and independent verification of earthquake data.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Nacional in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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