VENEZUELA — Venezuela was hammered with devastating twin earthquakes Wednesday, June 24, leaving at least 188 people dead, at least 1,520 injured and more than 200 trapped. More than 250 buildings have collapsed or been damaged. It is the worst earthquake disaster the country has experienced in more than 125 years.
The epicenters were near the town of Morón on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, about 100 miles west of Caracas. The two epicenters were estimated to be about 3 miles apart and registered at magnitude 7.2 and magnitude 7.5 respectively, striking only 39 seconds apart.
“We hurt with the dear people of Venezuela as they suffer through the devastation they’ve experienced,” said Randy C. Davis, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board president and executive director. “The pictures and video coming out show incredible amounts of damage. Now is the time for Tennessee Baptists to stand with the people of Venezuela in both prayer and financial generosity.”
Tennessee Baptist Disaster Relief has established a relief fund to support the effort at TNDisasterRelief.org/Contributions. Churches and individuals can contribute through the Venezuela Earthquake Fund link found on the page.
The devastating one-two punch — “doublets” as they are called — are extremely rare, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The coastal state of La Guaira is the hardest hit and has been declared a major disaster zone. It is cut off from Caracas, the nation’s capital, because two mountain tunnels connecting the two cities collapsed, isolating the coast. Venezuela’s Simón Bolívar International Airport sustained heavy damage and is closed, electricity and internet service face widespread outages, and many roads and bridges are impassable.
William Burton, the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s ethnic ministry specialist, has deep ties to Venezuela, having served there as a missionary and remaining connected through his wife Maria’s family.
“Maria’s family is still trying to connect with cousins they haven’t yet heard from,” he said. “There is so much damage to the infrastructure it is difficult to get news.
“But what I do know is that the Venezuelan Baptist churches went into action within two hours of the disaster, opening their doors and serving people any way they can in providing relief. They don’t have vast amounts of resources given the political, social and economic oppression they’ve experienced the past several decades, but they have been faithful to plant churches and have seen countless people come to Christ and be baptized.”
Burton said in the midst of this disaster, Baptists there — and here in Tennessee and around the world — have an opportunity to be the hands of Christ while sharing the gospel.
“The needs will be massive,” he said. “I just don’t know how they will recover. It breaks my heart. But I do know this is an incredible opportunity to meet both physical and spiritual needs. People can certainly give through disaster relief, but even more importantly they can pray that this will be a gateway to a great spiritual awakening among the Venezuelan people.
“The relationship between Tennessee Baptists and Venezuelan Baptists goes back to 1986 when the Tennessee Baptist Convention had a partnership with Venezuela. This is certainly a great time for us to again stand with our brothers and sisters there and support them through this extremely difficult time.”