Jamaica offers help to Venezuela after deadly earthquake
Barbados also pledged assistance and CARICOM expressed sympathy after the quake killed more than 160 people and injured more than 1,000.
KINGSTON, Jamaica. Jamaica has said it is ready to take part in any regional relief effort for Venezuela after a deadly earthquake struck the South American nation on Wednesday, killing more than 160 people.
More than 1,000 Venezuelans were injured when the quake struck in the late afternoon. Officials say both the death toll and the number of injured are expected to rise significantly.
‘Full solidarity’
A Jamaican government statement pointed to the country’s empathy with nations hit by natural disasters, following billions of dollars in damage from Hurricane Melissa last October and Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall as a category four storm in mid-2024.
“As a Caribbean nation that knows well the suddenness with which natural disasters can impact our region, Jamaica stands in full solidarity with Venezuela in this time of grief and recovery,” the statement said.
“Our hearts are with the families who have lost loved ones, with the injured, and with the many still searching for those trapped beneath the rubble,” it added.
Jamaica is the first member of the 15-nation Caribbean Community to signal readiness to help, with more expected in the coming days.
CARICOM and Barbados respond
Speaking on behalf of governments on Thursday, the Guyana-based CARICOM secretariat expressed its deep sympathies but made no mention of a coordinated relief effort.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela during this time of immense grief and offer prayers for a swift recovery to the injured and displaced,” the secretariat said, commending emergency personnel and first responders.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said her country was also ready to help.
“Venezuela is our neighbor, and in this Caribbean family, pain does not stop at the border. Barbados stands ready to assist in whatever way we can,” she said.
Beryl, which also affected Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados, Haiti and Cuba, made history as the earliest system to develop into such a powerful hurricane when it battered Grenada and its sister islands in late June.
