Nutritionist urges update to official figures for earthquake victims in Venezuela

Nutritionist and researcher Susana Raffalli has called on Venezuelan authorities and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to revise the official figures of those affected by the earthquakes on June 24. Raffalli, creator of Cáritas Venezuela's Nutrition and Health Monitoring, Alert, and Attention System, believes the current numbers do not reflect the true scale of the emergency.

"It will be necessary for OCHA or the state to arrive at a definitive figure of those affected as soon as possible. Insisting that it is 17,000 is not consistent with the several tens of millions that are being requested," Raffalli stated on social media platform X. She highlighted a discrepancy between the reported number of affected individuals and the substantial amount of humanitarian resources being sought.

Raffalli also voiced concern regarding the temporary housing of families who lost their homes. She specifically questioned the use of schools and sports facilities as shelters, describing it as "double damage." Raffalli argued that these valuable assets are meant for rehabilitation and healing, not for use as dormitories, and questioned the role of agencies advising the government in this decision.

The earthquakes, with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, are considered one of the most severe natural disasters in Venezuela's recent history. The official toll includes 3,685 deaths, 16,740 injuries, and 17,907 people who lost their homes. Thousands of families remain in temporary shelters or rely on humanitarian aid as national and international organizations focus on relief and recovery efforts.