The Trump administration is deploying U.S. emergency response teams to Venezuela in the wake of two high-magnitude earthquakes as local Catholic leaders mobilizes the Church's support network.
"We're already deploying search and rescue teams from Fairfax County [Virginia] and Los Angeles," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters June 25.
"There will be some others we'll add," Rubio said. "That's their most immediate need right now, is search-and-rescue efforts: They have [many] collapsed buildings. And so they'll need a lot of help in terms of digging through that."
The earthquakes took place on June 24, with the first 7.2-magnitude earthquake recorded at 6:04 p.m. local time, and the second 7.5-magnitude earthquake occurring just 39 seconds later, according to the United States Geological Survey.
"We've already stood up our disaster response teams at the Department of State and our humanitarian efforts," Rubio said. "It's something we did very well in Jamaica, after that storm, and it's something we're really prepared to do now."
The update came after Rubio issued a statement earlier in the morning pledging to carry out U.S. President Donald Trump's directive for "all agencies of [the U.S.] government" to "get ready to move quickly."
"The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes," Rubio said. "Our hearts are with all those who have lost loved ones, those injured, and the courageous rescue workers working tirelessly in the aftermath."
Aid to the Church in Need reported significant damages to numerous churches, parish houses, and Church institutions, but noted no casualties among priests, deacons, seminarians, or religious sisters.
Archbishop Raúl Biord Castillo of Caracas told the aid group after touring affected parishes to assess the situation that "many of them have serious structural damage," with the Cathedral of Caracas among the most affected.
Bishop Pablo Modesto González Pérez of the Diocese of La Guaira described the impact of the earthquakes on the local seminary, telling Aid to the Church in Need: "We are without electricity and we have all been affected. In the seminary, many walls collapsed."
The bishop expressed gratitude that no priests were seriously harmed and noted the mobilization of the local Church in response to the disaster: "Many parishes have received people to spend the night in their facilities. We have already activated a solidarity network through the parish Caritas."
"From tomorrow, inspections will be carried out to determine which temples can be reopened," he said. "May God help us and grant us the necessary consolation to accompany our people in these difficult times."
