The UN has launched a fundraising appeal to help Venezuela cope with the consequences of the double deadly earthquake on June 24, while Caracas, on Wednesday, called on several countries to unblock Venezuelan assets frozen under sanctions.
The United Nations estimates losses related to the earthquakes at $6.7 billion, about 6% of the country’s GDP, a figure that reflects a nation mired in a deep crisis for years. Caracas is therefore seeking resources.
The interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced that she had asked King Charles III to release around 30 tonnes of Venezuelan gold from the Bank of England’s reserves, to finance reconstruction.
The double earthquake, the most powerful in the country since 1900, has caused the death of 3,811 people according to a new official tally announced on Wednesday. The previous tally, dated Sunday, reported 3,685 deaths.
Authorities avoid speaking about missing persons, but the United Nations estimates that their number could reach 50,000. Some projections place the figure close to 10,000.
Reconstruction work is expected to be arduous in the north of the country, particularly affected, where hundreds of buildings have been reduced to rubble or become uninhabitable.
The head of UN humanitarian operations, Tom Fletcher, has thus requested $296 million in donations to help “1.3 million people with socio-economic needs, for six months,” during a video meeting with UN member states.
This appeal adds to the $632 million humanitarian plan announced at the beginning of the year for the South American country, where nearly 8 million people had already needed humanitarian aid. This initial plan has received $300 million so far.
