More than 5,000 people have been confirmed dead following a series of earthquakes that struck Venezuela last month.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Jorge Rodriguez, the Speaker of the National Assembly, announced on July 17 that the official death toll had reached 5,069. It is reported that the identities of at least 300 of the deceased have yet to be confirmed.
The number of injured remains at 16,740, as previously reported, with most of the injured having been discharged from hospitals. Approximately 20,000 displaced individuals are currently living in temporary shelters, although many are said to lack access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities.
On June 24, Venezuela was hit by two powerful earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5, devastating the coastal region of La Guaira, located north of the capital, Caracas.
While the Venezuelan government has not released official statistics on missing persons, opposition estimates suggest that around 30,000 individuals are unaccounted for. The United Nations estimated on June 27, three days after the earthquakes, that the number of missing persons could reach 50,000.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has projected that the death toll from the earthquakes could range from a minimum of 10,000 to as high as 100,000.
Meanwhile, a representative from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that El Niño could pose significant risks to earthquake survivors. El Niño is a climate phenomenon characterized by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, leading to drastic changes in weather patterns, including extreme events such as typhoons, floods, and droughts.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported last month that the El Niño phenomenon has already begun this year, with a 63% chance of developing into a super El Niño, where sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific exceed average levels by more than 2 degrees Celsius.
The UN estimates that the direct economic damage from the earthquakes amounts to $6.7 billion (approximately 9.98 trillion won), and the total economic losses, including indirect damages, could be up to three times that amount.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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