Spanish field hospital opens in Caracas park for earthquake survivors

A field hospital established through Spanish cooperation has commenced operations in Caracas' Parque del Este, providing essential medical aid to those affected by a devastating double earthquake. The facility, comprising numerous tents, is currently housing individuals displaced by the tremors that have resulted in 2,954 fatalities and over 16,000 injuries.

The hospital is focused on primary healthcare and has been set up in Parque del Este, one of the city's main green spaces. People have spontaneously moved to the park for temporary shelter, according to the EFE agency. The facility is equipped to provide outpatient care, including basic and emergency services without requiring hospitalization.

Operating self-sufficiently with its own power and water sources, the field hospital is slated to remain active for one month. It has the capacity to treat up to 200 patients per day. A team of approximately fifty volunteers from the START group (Technical Team for Emergency Aid and Response), coordinated by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (Aecid), arrived in Venezuela earlier this week.

These volunteers are primarily medical professionals, including doctors and nurses from Spanish hospitals, along with firefighters and logistics experts. Ten days after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes on June 24, many individuals remain displaced, camping in public areas, streets, and even on beaches. They await inspections of their homes to determine the extent of damage, with authorities reporting 16,309 people left homeless and 856 buildings affected, 190 of which have completely collapsed.