Venezuela's Earthquakes Deepen Trauma and Food Insecurity for Children

Venezuela’s Earthquakes Leave Children Facing Trauma, Displacement and Food Insecurity

LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — Five-year-old Elyas, now living in a makeshift shelter beneath a white tent at a sports complex in La Guaira, struggles to understand why “the earth is angry with people.”

His family has no answer. The June 24 earthquakes — a double tremor that left parts of the city in ruins — erased landmarks he once knew. Many buildings still stand, but cracked and unstable, threatening to collapse. Elyas has described in unsettling detail how a two-storey wall fell on his father’s back and cut his grandmother’s hand.

“He talks about it on his own,” says his mother, Sandra. “He asks everything.” Simple sounds now trigger fear: thunder reminds him of the quake, airplanes sound like the explosions that destroyed his home, and even the noise of a confetti gun once sent him running.

Psychologist Janet Guerra, a child development specialist at Andrés Bello Catholic University, explains that young children do not process such trauma logically, but it becomes “etched in the body.” Between ages zero and five — a critical period for both physical and psychological growth — unaddressed fear can lead to emotional dysregulation, potentially affecting mental health into adulthood.

Nearly 3.9 million children live in areas affected by the quakes, according to UNICEF. Hundreds of thousands now face urgent needs: shelter, food, and psychological support.

In the shelter, Elyas fidgets, unable to stay still. He pushes his father’s wheelchair and runs across artificial grass with other children. Since arriving, his parents say, he has become “more restless,” a common behavioral response in children unable to articulate their distress.

Nearby, six-year-old Daniela and one-year-old Albany cry in unison. Daniela stares at her glued hands, irritated from a simple accident. Albany, separated from her bottle, pulls away from breastfeeding and wails. Their mother, Claudia, says the baby refuses the shelter’s shared food — rice, beans, arepas — because it lacks her usual milk, oatmeal, or corn-based drink.

Nutritionist Marianella Herrera of the Bengoa Foundation says such reactions are expected when routine feeding is disrupted. In emergencies, communal kitchens prioritize staple foods, not the specialized diets infants need. Before the quakes, child malnutrition in Venezuela was already worsening, with 67 percent of communities monitored by Cáritas Venezuela in March 2024 showing acute, moderate, or severe malnutrition in children under five.

The disaster occurred when state agencies were “severely weakened and under-resourced,” says Gloria Perdomo of Redhnna (Venezuelan Network of Human Rights Organizations). Budget cuts, lack of transportation, and restrictions on NGOs have worsened the crisis.

Without consistent formula or adapted meals, infants face heightened nutritional risks. “If a child hasn’t fully transitioned to solid foods, mass assistance can’t provide what they need,” Herrera says. Disrupted routines also undermine emotional security, Guerra adds, as children rely on predictability for comfort.

Claudia holds Albany and waits in line for food aid. She has heard rumors of housing in Caracas, far away, but for now, the family remains in the camp. Their home is gone. So is their food security.

She examines the aid package: fruit purées, cookies, corn tortillas — no milk, no formula. She hopes Albany will adapt. Beside her, Daniela finishes a cookie and asks when a truck will take them to Caracas.

For now, uncertainty remains. The earthquakes have left not only broken buildings, but broken routines — and for the youngest, the most vulnerable, the risk of lasting harm.