Venezuela promises new housing for earthquake victims by year-end

Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez has pledged that new homes will be ready for those displaced by the recent 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes before the year concludes. The devastating quakes have claimed 1,719 lives and left over 5,000 injured.

Rodríguez announced the housing initiative during the installation of a special task force focused on creating temporary camps and planning new constructions. "The Ministry of Housing and Habitat is developing projects for the construction of housing in the shortest possible time, there are thousands of solutions before the end of the year," she stated, as broadcast on state television VTV.

The government is also engaging with international experts and organizations to explore immediate housing solutions. Simultaneously, engineers and architects are on the ground in the northern states of La Guaira, Miranda, and Caracas, assessing the habitability of structures damaged by the tremors. Rodríguez emphasized the urgency and necessity of this collaborative effort, stating, "This is a task that we must address jointly and immediately, with no postponement."

This initiative follows Rodríguez's announcement of a commission to inspect affected homes and an extension of the class suspension by one week. The recent earthquakes are the deadliest to strike Venezuela in a century, surpassing the 1967 Caracas earthquake which caused 245 fatalities.