Experts Call Government's Earthquake Response "Completely Ineffective"

A week after the earthquakes, PBS NewsHour reported that Venezuela's disaster response was hampered by years of hollowed-out institutional capacity: firefighters lacked fuel, civil defense workers searched rubble using cellphone flashlights, and citizens and volunteers organized rescue efforts before state agencies arrived. Foreign aid faced bureaucratic friction — a German emergency medical team was denied entry, Colombian firefighters were delayed for hours without clearance, and Chilean rescue workers faced documentation checks while working, while access to hard-hit La Guaira required registration. Phil Gunson of the International Crisis Group said the government "doesn't appear to have given any thought to what would happen in an earthquake"; Orlando Pérez of the University of North Texas at Dallas said "six months is not enough time to rebuild institutions that took two decades to hollow out"; and WOLA's Laura Cristina Dib said the response "left citizens in a situation of deep vulnerability." Foreign Policy separately described the failed response as the sharpest test yet of Acting President Rodríguez's leadership.