Venezuela Earthquakes

Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the scale of humanitarian need in Venezuela following the earthquakes on 24 June; and what (1) immediate, and (2) long-term, support they intend to provide in addition to the £2 million UK aid match contribution to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Venezuela earthquake appeal.

My Lords, we extend our deepest sympathies to all those affected by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela. Millions have been affected, with thousands of fatalities and over 16,000 injured. The UK has responded rapidly, mobilising a £5.8 million humanitarian package, including UK international search and rescue, emergency medical team support and humanitarian experts. We have also aid-matched £2 million to the DEC appeal and continue to support British nationals.

I thank my noble friend the Minister for her reply and for the generosity and speed of the response shown by the department. As vice-chair of the Disasters Emergency Committee, I am delighted to say that the Venezuela earthquake appeal has now raised £12 million, including £2 million of the aid match to which the Minister refered; that is a credit to the generosity of both the UK public and the Government. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will continue to respond to the needs of the survivors of the earthquake, nearly 40% of whom are homeless and facing disease in a disaster where, as of today, 3,800 people are known to have died and an estimated 50,000 are still missing?

My noble friend is right—this is a truly devastating situation, and its true extent is yet to be revealed. The United Kingdom will, of course, play its part in supporting those who are displaced, those who have been separated from their loved ones and those who are unable to continue with their livelihood or access health services, particularly maternal health services, in the current situation.

My Lords, we welcome the Government’s response to this truly devastating earthquake. As co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Aid Match, I thank the Government for the £2 million they have offered, but, as the vice-chair of the DEC says, the public have raised £12 million. Will the Government consider raising the contribution from aid match? Will they perhaps also persuade the Treasury that rather than having the money taken out of existing development funds, it should be genuinely additional, so that aid match adds money and the public can influence how our aid money is spent?

I am very happy to put money into the Venezuelan response, but we can all work out that every penny we put into one response leaves us less for the next crisis. We have an El Niño year; we are about to start hurricane season. We have food insecurity across Africa because of the conflict in the Middle East. It would be irresponsible for me just to make commitments about what we will and will not do from this Dispatch Box in such a serious situation. It has been a truly global response in Venezuela, and that is very good to see. We have seen a particularly strong response from Latin America, which is encouraging, and the United States has also played a leading role. It has been a good example of how the international community can come together and co-ordinate to great effect.

My Lords, we welcome the Government’s response—helping is a good thing—and we also welcome support from the Disasters Emergency Committee. As has been said, the British public have been extremely generous. What assessment has the Minister made of the failures of the Venezuelan state in this matter? It has been truly shocking to see the response of what was the Maduro Government and the hollowing out in these circumstances. There has been a dreadful local response. International partners have stepped in to help. What assessment have the Government made of this?

I agree with the noble Lord. It has been devastating, dreadful and heartbreaking. A country that should be prosperous and successful and that should provide a good place to live and succeed for its population has been badly led by a corrupt regime. I suspect we agree on much of that analysis. What needs to happen now is the physical rebuilding and the support for the population, but the Venezuelan state really needs to look to itself. It has some serious questions to answer about how it has allowed the impact of this to be more devastating than it could have been, and about what it needs to do next to rebuild its economy, society and the country more generally.

My Lords, as London Fire Commissioner, I deployed international search and rescue responders many times to a series of catastrophic international events ranging from Nepal to Turkey, with considerable loss of life. As ever, London firefighters and many other firefighters from services around the country have acquitted themselves with great courage in very difficult circumstances. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm that with the change of ownership from the Home Office to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, there has been a proper conversation between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and that department to ensure the sustainability of that model, which the UK should take such pride in?

Absolutely. Our international search and rescue capability—I think 58 team members went to Venezuela along with dogs to help with the search and rescue—is globally recognised; it is outstanding. My neighbour Jim is one of them and we should all be incredibly proud of them. I can confirm that it is our intention to continue to provide this service and this capability whenever and wherever we can.

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that 14 major hospitals have either been destroyed or very seriously damaged, and it will take a long time for them to be repaired. In the meantime, there is obviously a crucial need for tented hospitals. In this respect, it is obviously good news that the UK Emergency Medical Team, UK EMT, has deployed a team to set up one such hospital, but there is a need for much more to be done. Furthermore, is the Minister aware that Venezuela already suffered from a chronic shortage of qualified anaesthetists and orthopaedic surgeons? Are these two areas where the UK could provide more focus?

Venezuela lacks many things, not least the 8 million people who have removed themselves from the country in recent years because they did not wish to live under the regime of Nicolás Maduro. There are many gaps in the capability of the Venezuelan state. The right response to this is to not do what has happened in response to previous disasters. I point the noble Lord to Haiti and the response after that earthquake, where we saw a flooding of capability and equipment but a real lack of co-ordination, duplication, inefficiency and a failure to respond. It was of its time, and it is not how we want to do things now. It is good that we are now collaborating much more with international partners and local agencies on the ground, because that is the right thing to do for that population that needs that help so urgently.

I also welcome the support given by the British Government and I congratulate the Minister, who will have played a personal part in making sure that there has been co-ordination in relation to it. Picking up on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, Venezuela will have long-term needs in the light of what has happened as well as the immediate crisis that is going on. What are the British Government doing to identify what those long-term needs are and how we might help to meet them?

It is an important point. There are without doubt going to be long-term needs to strengthen the state, as there were before the earthquake happened, but those have been brought into sharp relief since the devastating incidence of the two quakes. Before this happened, we were the only G7 country with a functioning team in Caracas. We had a chargé there who has led the team incredibly well through very difficult circumstances. We will maintain that position, and we will work with partners, allies and organisations within the country to work out what the right role is for the United Kingdom in this context. The best response is no longer to try to provide everything and to act as a pseudo state; that is not what we wish to do. We need to work in a way that recognises local leadership, local custom, local language and local provision. The role of faith leadership in Venezuela is important too. That is the way that we will go about this.