Venezuela earthquakes, Sudan atrocity warnings, and undercounted heatwave tolls: The Cheat Sheet

Share & more Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe. On our radar Massive earthquakes deal Venezuelans yet another blow Two of the most powerful earthquakes to hit Venezuela in more than a century shook the country, leaving at least 1,430 dead and over 3,300 injured, as of 27 June. The quakes – a minute apart and measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude – caused devastating damage to buildings and infrastructure across the capital Caracas and several northern areas, including worst-hit La Guaira. According to the NGO iMMAP, more than 16 million people – out of a total population of about 28.5 million – were within the earthquakes’ overall footprint. While Acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a state of emergency and several countries have sent rescue teams and aid, the initial response has also highlighted the severity of Venezuela’s deep decade-long humanitarian crisis. Hospitals, long-affected by lack of medicines and supplies, are completely overwhelmed. Thousands of people have been displaced and find little shelter. In La Guaira, residents have been calling for assistance on social media, wondering why there is a lack of rescuers and proper equipment. Neighbours have been trying to free survivors from the rubble with their bare hands, even as the casualty count continues to soar. Atrocity alarm sounded as RSF looks to take key Sudan city Warnings are mounting that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) could carry out new mass atrocities as it prepares an assault on the army-held city of El Obeid in Sudan’s North Kordofan state. After the UN secretary-general and human rights chief sounded the alarm earlier this month, several governments this week also warned of the extreme danger facing civilians if the UAE-backed rebels capture the city, drawing comparisons with El Fasher and the Zam Zam displacement camp. Reports suggest the RSF has moved substantial reinforcements around El Obeid while stepping up drone strikes. A crossroads city linking RSF-held Darfur with army-controlled eastern Sudan, El Obeid was under RSF siege until the army broke the blockade last year, but it is now being encircled once again. For more read: How Sudan’s El Obeid survives drone strikes and siege warfare. Heat inflicts known toll in Europe, unknown toll elsewhere Europe has been gripped by its second deadly heatwave in two months, with hundreds of deaths across the region, including at least 212 in Spain. With a raft of European nations – from France to the UK – breaking records for hottest days, scientists are pointing to the climate crisis as the underlying cause. Two years ago, the World Health Organization noted that Europe was the fastest-warming of its 6 regions, with the heat claiming 175,000 lives annually – more than a third of global heat-related deaths. Further afield, Human Rights Watch has warned that Gulf states are exposing migrant workers to "another deadly summer", with inadequate protections. Previous investigations have shown that many Gulf nations significantly underreport or misclassify the heat-related deaths of thousands of young, otherwise healthy migrant workers. Similarly, in India, which is enduring a sweltering summer, official estimates of up to 1,000 annual heat-related deaths are a gross undercount, with one study estimating that a five-day heatwave causes nearly 30,000 excess deaths. Strait of Hormuz tensions threaten to unravel Iran-US ceasefire A week after signing a ceasefire deal, the United States and Iran remain at loggerheads over the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one fifth of the world’s petroleum and crude oil supply passes. On 25 July, the US and the UK accused Iran of striking a Singapore-flagged commercial vessel with a drone as it was transiting a UN-backed route along the Omani coast. That attack led the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, to temporarily pause a mission to evacuate more than 11,000 sailors who have been stranded in the Strait. Iran maintains that all vessels must use routes established by them and approved by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Islamic Republic has proposed a toll for all vessels that would provide $40 billion in annual revenue, which it says should also benefit its Gulf neighbours, who came under weeks of attack from Iran during the US- and Israeli-imposed war. In a bid to allay naysayers who say the deal was too soft, US President Donald Trump, who nearly torpedoed negotiations by threatening Iran with more bombing if it didn’t reopen the Strait, has said the $300 million in Iranian assets his administration will unfreeze will be used to purchase American agricultural goods. Meanwhile, Israel continues to attack Lebanon. On 25 July, as talks between Tel Aviv and Beirut dragged out in Washington, Israel killed three more Lebanese in its second violation of the ceasefire in as many days. Ebola cases in DRC surpass 1,000, more than 300 dead The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 1,000, with more than 300 deaths. The outbreak – the fastest-growing on record and already one of the largest ever documented – is centred on the conflict-affected Ituri region in the northeast. After a slow start, hospitalisation and testing capacity are now increasing, and a clinical trial for two therapeutic drugs is due to begin next week. Efforts to contain regional spread are also ramping up, with the UN allocating $8 million to strengthen preparedness in Burundi and South Sudan – though the virus has already crossed borders, with cases reported in Uganda and France this week confirming its first. Funding appeals are, meanwhile, growing sharply, with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention calling for $1.4 billion – three times an original estimate. Still, as the response to the 2018-2020 DRC Ebola outbreak made clear, pouring money into a conflict setting where there is mistrust of governments and outsiders can create as many problems as it solves. Why exactly have the last six UN relief chiefs been Brits? It’s no secret that top UN appointments are based on passport before merit. But a new report fleshes out the evidence and the stories behind the horse-trading. The “Backroom Deals” report, published by the advocacy group 1 for 8 Billion, uses interviews with 40 former diplomats and candidates to shed light on UN deal-making. The report, its authors say, shows the five permanent members of the Security Council “have attempted to compromise the independence of candidates over the appointment of their senior staff – including the current secretary-general, António Guterres”. In the case of the top humanitarian affairs position, the seat was first handed to the United Kingdom in 2007 as a consolation prize. The UK had asked Ban Ki-moon – then a candidate to be secretary-general – for a top political role. But with France and the United States already vying for two positions, the UK was instead offered the role of under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs – which then-diplomat John Holmes ”reluctantly accepted”, the authors write. A Briton has held the job ever since. The race-walk to select the next secretary-general – Guterres finishes his term at the year’s end – is ongoing. “If the incoming secretary-general has already promised a slate of senior appointments to P5 countries,” the authors warn, “the current structures will be frozen in place and there will be little room for meaningful reform.” Weekend read And finally… A dark day in the US for asylum protections A couple of months ago our Migration Editor, Eric Reidy, wrote an article about a case before the US Supreme Court regarding the right to seek asylum. At stake was whether the US government could block people from seeking protection at ports of entry along the southern US border. On 25 June, a majority of the court’s justices issued a decision granting the government that power. When the policy was in place between 2018 and 2020, tens of thousands of people ended up stranded in precarious living situations in dangerous cities in northern Mexico, facing violence, extortion, and abuse. Perversely, the policy created an incentive for people to cross the border irregularly. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor summed up the consequences of the decisions. “More people will die,” she wrote. “More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not.” On the same day, the court paved the way for the Trump administration to strip legal protections from Haitians, Syrians, and people of other nationalities – a decision that could potentially expose up to 1.3 million people to deportation. Both decisions are a major blow to asylum protections, but advocates have vowed not to be deterred. “We are going to keep fighting alongside communities that are migrating to save their lives, because we don't have the privilege of giving up,” Nicole Ramos, from the NGO Al Otro Lado, said in a press conference.