The earthquakes that struck Venezuela this week exposed the fragility of the country\u2019s emergency medical system after years of economic collapse, institutional decay and mass emigration hollowed out hospitals, ambulance services and rescue operations, according to doctors, emergency responders and humanitarian groups.<\/p>\n
In the hardest-hit coastal state of La Guaira, two of the state\u2019s three public hospitals were knocked out of service, leaving the only functioning hospital overwhelmed and out of basic medical supplies, according to Dr. Jaime Lorenzo, the director of a nonprofit, United Doctors of Venezuela.<\/p>\n
The hospital is operating without running water, forcing staff to wash their hands and clean bloodstained floors using stored water and intravenous saline, Dr. Lorenzo said.<\/p>\n
In Caracas, the roof of one of the city\u2019s main trauma hospitals partly collapsed during the twin quakes on Wednesday. Staff urged patients on social media not to come unless they faced life-threatening emergencies.<\/p>\n
The strain extends beyond hospitals. Venezuela has only three functioning public ambulances serving greater Caracas, said Dr. Lorenzo. He estimated that roughly 90 percent of patients from La Guaira arrived in the backs of police pickup trucks following the quakes.<\/p>\n
Power outages and telecom failures have further crippled the response. With cellphone networks down, hospitals often receive no advance warning about incoming patients, learning the severity of injuries only when the wounded arrive.<\/p>\n
Emergency workers have resorted to radio systems and Starlink satellite internet to communicate after the earthquake disabled much of the commercial cellphone network.<\/p>\n
Dr. Lorenzo described firefighters searching collapsed buildings using cellphone lights because of shortages of flashlights. Rescue crews have so few shovels that some have been digging through concrete with their bare hands, he said.<\/p>\n
The shortages have forced ordinary citizens to shoulder much of the rescue effort.<\/p>\n
Venezuela\u2019s shortage of ambulances and emergency workers has forced ordinary citizens to shoulder much of the rescue effort after this week\u2019s earthquakes.Credit…Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times<\/p>\n
Under international urban search-and-rescue protocols, neighbors are considered the first emergency responders before professional rescue teams arrives, said Jacobo Vidarte, an emergency management specialist in Venezuela. <\/p>\n
But in Venezuela, volunteers, who sometimes lack training and appropriate equipment, make up roughly 70 percent of those involved in disaster response because the country has so few teams, Mr. Vidarte said.<\/p>\n
The weaknesses long predated the earthquake.<\/p>\n
Experts said Venezuela\u2019s emergency and health systems have deteriorated after more than 25 years of chronic underinvestment and a lack of long-term planning.<\/p>\n
The country\u2019s economic crisis accelerated a mass exodus of experienced firefighters, nurses and physicians as public-sector salaries cratered. Equipment fell into disrepair and hospitals struggled with chronic shortages of electricity, running water and medical supplies.<\/p>\n