Venezuela's Broken Communications Hamper Earthquake Relief

Two earthquakes struck northern Venezuela in June 2024, killing an unknown number and leaving thousands missing. Three days in, the scale of missing persons suggests damaged telecommunications networks—the real bottleneck. A decade of economic decline starved utilities of investment, leaving communication systems fragile before the quakes hit. Without functioning networks, families cannot reach relatives and authorities cannot coordinate casualty counts. Death tolls remain unconfirmed.