‘It Looked Like a War Zone’: What Relief Workers Found After Venezuela’s Deadliest Earthquakes in Nearly a Century

Nearly a month after twin earthquakes ripped through northern Venezuela, the country’s official death toll has surpassed 5,000, making the disaster one of the deadliest to strike the country in nearly a century. Tens of thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, entire neighborhoods remain uninhabitable and families who were already living through years of economic hardship are now struggling to survive without homes, clean water or reliable access to food. “The best way I could explain it is, in some places, it looks like there was a war,” Edgar Sandoval Sr., president and CEO of World Vision, told RELEVANT after returning from the disaster zone. “Buildings have simply collapsed.” According to humanitarian officials, roughly 59,000 buildings have either collapsed or sustained significant damage. Schools and hospitals remain closed in many communities, water systems have been crippled and recovery is expected to take years. “This happened on top of years of a very severe socioeconomic crisis,” Sandoval said. “More than 80 percent of people are already living in poverty. This just pushed them to the brink.” For many families, the losses are total. “They need everything,” he said. “They lost their shelter. They don’t have food. They don’t have water. Schools are damaged. Hospitals are damaged. They need sanitation. They need psychosocial support. I talked to so many people who are still carrying incredible trauma.” As search-and-rescue operations have shifted into long-term recovery, Sandoval said one group has consistently been among the first to respond: local churches. Within hours of the earthquakes, pastors and church volunteers across Venezuela were already checking on neighbors, identifying the most vulnerable families and helping distribute emergency supplies. “We have nearly 2,000 church partners,” Sandoval said. “Despite their own pain — many lost their churches, many lost their homes — they became first responders.” He said pastors occupy a unique role because communities already trust them. “When people need help, they go to the church,” he said. “They know the pastors. They know they’ll find someone who cares.” That trust has become essential in communities where many survivors are now sleeping in parks, tents or crowded homes with relatives who are struggling to feed additional mouths. “If a relative takes you in, they barely have enough food for themselves,” Sandoval said. “Now they’re trying to care for three or four more people.” The devastation isn’t only physical. Sandoval said one encounter continues to stay with him. He met Pastor Eusebio while the pastor was organizing food distribution for families in his community. Only later did Eusebio explain that just hours after the earthquake, he had pulled his daughter and granddaughter alive from the rubble before rushing to another home, where he discovered his son and grandson had died beneath the debris. Even after that loss, Eusebio spent the following days serving other families. “He’s going through significant personal grief,” Sandoval said. “Nevertheless, he’s spending nearly every hour helping his community and trying to bring hope.” Stories like that, he said, reflect the sacrificial leadership of pastors across Venezuela. “They’ll give away their last bottle of water,” Sandoval said. “One pastor told me he gave the last bottle his church had to another family, even though his own family didn’t have water.” While humanitarian organizations continue delivering emergency supplies, Sandoval believes the country’s long-term recovery will depend in large part on the strength of local churches. “The Church of Jesus Christ is alive in Venezuela,” he said. “Pastors are committed. They’re serving their people. They’re carrying out the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.” As rescue efforts give way to what will likely be years of rebuilding, Sandoval hopes Christians outside Venezuela won’t allow the disaster to disappear from their attention once the headlines fade. “The first thing they asked me for was prayer,” he said. “We stood in the middle of the rubble, held hands, prayed together and cried.” Prayer, he said, is only the beginning. Venezuelan churches are carrying much of the burden of caring for their communities while many pastors are grieving losses of their own. Christians around the world can stand with them by praying for pastors and families, supporting trusted relief efforts and remembering that rebuilding homes, schools and entire communities will take years, not weeks. “The Church in Venezuela is alive,” Sandoval said. “They’re serving faithfully, but they can’t carry this alone.” As international attention inevitably shifts elsewhere, the work of rebuilding will continue long after the cameras are gone. For Christians around the world, that means the call is not simply to respond to a disaster but to stand alongside a Church already serving its neighbors, ensuring it has the encouragement, prayers and resources to keep going.