WFP expresses solidarity, stands ready to support Venezuela’s earthquake response
The World Food Programme (WFP) offers our sympathies and solidarity to the people of Venezuela – and stands ready to scale up support – following powerful, back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday, 24 June, in the northwestern part of the country that killed hundreds of people and left thousands injured and missing.
The two magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which struck seconds apart, add further hardship to a country facing overlapping needs. Even before the quakes, Venezuela was facing one of the region’s most severe food crises. Overall, some 7.9 million people needed humanitarian support as of early 2026, and access to enough food remains a top concern for 80 percent of the population.
WFP is supporting the immediate humanitarian response to the quakes by providing transport, storage and coordination infrastructure to national authorities and humanitarian partners, to help restore and maintain access to affected populations. We are also consolidating our inventory of food stocks in the country for immediate deployment, if needed.
Additionally, WFP’s Humanitarian Response Depot in Panama — which stocks items from humanitarian partners across the region — also stands ready to deploy resources, as needed.
WFP food: from school meals to resilience building
Over the past five years, WFP has been the backbone of the humanitarian food security response in Venezuela. In 2025 alone, our food assistance — including school meals for young pupils and support to the most vulnerable households — reached 760,000 people across 12 states, accounting for 80 percent of the country's food security assistance.
Critically, WFP has built the capacity to deliver timely food and other essential supplies to crises-hit communities, and supported the strengthening of national risk management systems by training the country’s Civil Protection and firefighting teams. We are also assisting families in building resilience and capacity to recover from shocks, and in strengthening their livelihoods and building longer-term food security to cope with future ones.
But needs are immense in a country facing a raft of challenges – from the world’s highest food inflation, of over 500% annually, to a string of weather disasters this past year that have helped drive up prices and hunger. The earthquake's impact on employment, infrastructure, and supply chains is expected to push food access beyond reach for the most vulnerable — even as the country braces for the fallout of El Niño in the coming months.
See how you can donate to Venezuela's earthquake response