NPR reports the Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced the current number of casualties following the devastating earthquakes that rocked on the country on Wednesday —589 dead and 2,980 injured. The back-to-back quakes, the magnitude measuring 7.2 and 7.5, were the largest seen in the country since 1967, killing over 200 people and measuring at 6.7.
According to Associated Press, while Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced that U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Jarrard arrived at Venezuela’s capital city, Caracas, on Thursday to help oversee U.S. relief efforts, reports Fox News. The Trump administration also pledged $150 million in aid and deployed U.S. Navy warships to help in rescue operations.
While the full extent of the damage and the lives lost will take weeks to figure out, Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, says a rapid response team is already there at the request of the U.S. Department of State.
“I've already been asked by the government and the State Department to put a hospital down there. We are loading that right now. That should depart on Saturday,” Graham says.
Samaritans Purse is sending doctors and nurses, power generators, water purification systems and anything else the team needs so they won't be a drain on local resources.
“There'll be a 40-bed hospital with two surgical wards, intensive care. It can be expanded. We can double or triple the size of it if we need to,” Graham states.
They expect, he says, to be down there for some time.
“I think we'll be involved in this for some time. This is a very devastating event that has taken place in Venezuela. We were there for some time working in Haiti. About five or six years after the earthquake, we were still working there,” Graham states.
Of course, everywhere that Graham goes, so does the gospel.
“We just share God's love with everyone we meet — that's the foundation that we work off, the gospel. But at the same time, when people are hurting and people are dying, you don't stand up on a soapbox and preach to them. You start helping them,” Graham says.
