UN emergency fund allocates $15 million to scale up earthquake response in Venezuela
The UN and humanitarian partners on the ground are rapidly scaling up the response, conducting assessments and mobilising assistance in the wake of the earthquakes that hit Venezuela on 24 June.
Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher yesterday allocated US$15 million from the UN’s Global Emergency Fund to support urgent, life-saving assistance, including health care, shelter, food and safe water.
The Government is leading response efforts focused on search and rescue, emergency medical care and damage assessment.
OCHA is supporting coordination efforts on the ground, facilitating information-sharing and working with partners to help ensure the effective deployment of international search and rescue teams. A total of 30 search and rescue teams are deploying from various countries to Venezuela, with more than 1,600 personnel and more than 100 dogs. UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination teams have also been mobilized, along with a four-member operational support team. Several OCHA staff have been deployed to Venezuela.
The damage is extensive. At least 250 buildings have been damaged or destroyed, particularly in La Guaira State some 30 kilometers north of Caracas, the worst-affected area. Significant structural damage has also been reported across Caracas and surrounding states.
Critical infrastructure remains severely disrupted, including electricity, water, telecommunications, and transport, with Maiquetía International Airport still closed due to damage. Hospitals continue to operate under mass casualty protocols, and shelters have been established for displaced families.
The UN and humanitarian partners are working closely with national authorities to ensure assistance reaches those most in need as quickly as possible.
The UN has an emergency appeal for Venezuela for public donations. Managed by the OCHA office in Caracas, the donations go to the Venezuela Humanitarian Fund to provide life-saving aid, healthcare, food and emergency shelter through trusted local partners.
*Donations made to UN Crisis Relief help UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs reach people in Venezuela with urgent support.
Displacement continues despite increasing returns
With the recent ceasefire announcement in Lebanon, more people are returning to their homes and places of origin. The number of people in collective shelters continues to decline, with sites closing as families depart.
However, more than 57,000 people remain in 516 collective shelters, while others continue to reside in host arrangements and informal settings. Many remain hesitant to return to their homes due to fears of renewed hostilities, the presence of Israeli Defence Forces and extensive destruction.
Despite constraints, the UN and partners continue to deliver lifesaving assistance. Since the escalation began, partners have provided more than 181,000 blankets, 141,000 mattresses, over 162,000 hygiene kits, 92,000 menstrual hygiene kits and more than 3.7 million litres of bottled drinking water to vulnerable, conflict‑affected communities.
The UN continues to assist civilians in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas across southern Lebanon, with a total of 290 movements facilitated by the Humanitarian Notification System since 2 March.
The UN reiterates that returns must be safe, voluntary and dignified and stresses the need for sustained support to meet ongoing humanitarian needs.
Response efforts continue, signs of recovery in the livestock sector
The UN, partners and municipal service providers continue carrying out pest control in all populated areas of the Gaza Strip, but skin diseases and other related health conditions remain widespread.
As most of the water network remains destroyed, the United Nations Development Programme brought five additional water trucks into Gaza last week, and UNICEF brought in water treatment chemicals. Together, this will boost our ability to provide water to communities by truck. Water trucking remains a backup option, but it is expensive to sustain; repairing the heavily damaged infrastructure is essential.
Meanwhile, last week, partners provided psychosocial care, legal aid and case management to nearly 50,000 people across Gaza. At the same time, targeted assistance and cash support helped nearly 20,000 people and hundreds of vulnerable households meet their basic needs.
Today, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNOSAT’s Satellite Centre released an assessment showing that farmers in Gaza have been able to rehabilitate about 24 hectares of greenhouse infrastructure since the declaration of a ceasefire in October 2025.
FAO says that these developments coincide with signs of recovery in the livestock sector. The UN and partners are supporting agricultural recovery through cash, livestock support and technical guidance. Since October, FAO has distributed nearly 600 tonnes of animal feed every month.
Still, partners warn that over 80 per cent of the greenhouse infrastructure remains damaged and out of production. This is severely limiting farmers’ capacity to grow food for people who desperately need it.
Most of the land in the Gaza Strip remains inaccessible for Palestinians. This limits livelihood opportunities, crowds the shelters in accessible areas, and heightens public health risks.
Fresh violence displaces thousands, deepens humanitarian crisis
The humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate with new displacements recorded across several departments.
More than 2,600 people have been displaced in Artibonite department following clashes between armed groups last week, according to International Organization for Migration (IOM). More than three-quarters of the displaced sought refuge in the commune of Marchand Dessalines. Continuing violence in Artibonite department is raising serious protection concerns.
Meanwhile, in the West department, renewed armed clashes in the commune of Cité Soleil since June 13 have displaced more than 5,000 people, according to IOM. This adds to the thousands who had been displaced between March and May while fleeing armed violence at Cité Soleil.
Ongoing violence has severely disrupted health services, particularly for women and girls. It has forced NGO Médecins Sans Frontières to suspend activities at its maternity facility in Cité Soleil on June 19, depriving thousands of women of access to maternal and reproductive health care in one of the most densely populated areas of Port-au-Prince. It has also led to an increase in the number of wounded treated in health facilities.
These dynamics are occurring in a context of increasing forced returns to Haiti. According to IOM, more than 25,500 people were forcibly returned in May 2026. In total, more than 117,000 people were returned between January and June 2026. Twenty-four per cent of all forcibly returned migrants in 2026 are women and nearly 8 per cent are children.
OCHA continues to work with humanitarian partners to assess needs and provide assistance despite significant access constraints. The $880 million Humanitarian Appeal for 2026 is currently only 27 per cent funded, with $240 million received to date.
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