A member of the Venezuelan National Guard checks documents of a Colombian Red Cross truck transporting humanitarian aid following deadly earthquakes, at the border on the Atanasio Girardot bridge near Cucuta on Friday.SCHNEYDER MENDOZA/AFP/Getty Images
The MP overseeing Canada’s foreign aid says Ottawa will match up to $4-million in public donations for Venezuelans still reeling from earthquakes, in addition to funding the federal government announced last week.
“Canadians really want to step up and really have a strong affinity and connection to the people of Venezuela,” Randeep Sarai, secretary of state for international development, told The Canadian Press.
Rare double earthquakes struck northern Venezuela 39 seconds apart last Wednesday. On Monday, a 4.6 magnitude aftershock hit what was already a disaster zone in La Guaira state.
Sarai said Ottawa will double donations the public makes to some Canadian charities supporting Venezuelans. Canada will match up to $2-million in donations made to both the Canadian Red Cross and the Humanitarian Coalition of a dozen aid organizations, for a total of $4-million.
Sarai said Ottawa will match donations that were made between June 25 and July 14.
“A lot of Canadian organizations with grassroots connections will be able to raise those funds and give (people their) needs, from food to shelter, to medicine, to clothing and anything else that’s essential,” he said.
Canadians worry for the safety of their family members in Venezuela after earthquakes
Officials report that as of Tuesday, 1,943 people have been killed in Venezuela and 10,571 have been injured. They urged the public to share only government information about the crisis.
The Associated Press reports the government has been tight-lipped about victims and survivors while offering no official count of missing people, leaving ordinary Venezuelans struggling to find relatives.
Many have turned to WhatsApp groups and non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. One such registry listed at least 43,220 people as missing, the AP reported.
Tiffany Baggetta, who leads the Humanitarian Coalition, said all 12 member organizations are working non-stop to respond to emergency needs and help people sleeping in open spaces.
“The Government of Canada’s commitment to match donations will help turn Canadians’ generosity into urgent action, bringing critical relief, hope and dignity to children and families who need it most,” she wrote.
Venezuelan rescue workers race to find survivors as attention turns to humanitarian crisis
Humanity and Inclusion Canada – formerly Handicap International – is one of the charities in the coalition. It says there is a devastating shortage of supplies in Venezuela.
“Health care staff are working with their bare hands and without equipment. They are performing amputations without an anesthetic because the anesthetic has run out,” wrote Andreina Jota, a member of the group’s team assessing needs in the hard-hit La Guaira region.
She warned that “hospitals currently only have the resources to care for people in critical condition.”
The funding is in addition to the $5-million in humanitarian aid Ottawa announced last Thursday for emergency relief efforts in Venezuela. Global Affairs Canada says that funding has secured more than 5,700 emergency relief items, such as emergency food, water, sanitation and health services, and protection and logistics services.
Sarai said the funding will not go to Venezuela’s government. Canada considers Venezuela’s government to be illegitimate and undemocratic and “one of the primary sources of geopolitical tension and instability in the Western Hemisphere,” according to a Global Affairs Canada online country profile.
While Sarai said he’s “confident” Venezuela will rebound from the crisis, he said it’s unfortunate that the heaviest impacts of natural disasters often fall on poorer people.
“It’s tragic, but with tragedy you always see a resilience, the community coming together, putting their differences aside, working hand in hand, and rescuing people first, helping support them in the interim and then rebuilding thereafter,” he said.
“I’m hoping that Mother Nature is kinder to the area and doesn’t do anything further.”