The Daily Journal — One month after the twin earthquakes struck Venezuela’s central coast, the human tragedy continues to reveal its most heartbreaking consequences. Countless families keep searching morgues and medical centers, hoping—and fearing—to find their missing children.
Amid this grim reality, Venezuela’s National Service of Forensic Medicine and Sciences (Senamecf) announced that 38 bodies of children and teenagers remain unclaimed and unidentified at its temporary facility in Los Silos.
“To carry out the identification process with the respect and sensitivity that this situation demands, relatives must come forward to assist with photographic verification and anthropological and dental examinations,” the agency said in an official statement.
The earthquake’s toll on children and the coastal region
The number of unidentified minors in La Guaira underscores the scale of a disaster that hit children and families across the coastal region especially hard.
Caption: A boy stays in a tent in a public square in Caracas, Venezuela, June 28, 2026. (Photo by Marcos Salgado/Xinhua)
According to United Nations assessments, 1.8 million people urgently need humanitarian assistance after the earthquakes, including about 680,000 children. Residential infrastructure collapsed, buildings in vulnerable communities crumbled, and more than 18,000 people lost their homes. Authorities relocated thousands of survivors to temporary camps, where teams continue registering residents and reuniting separated families.
A cemetery of the unidentified
The latest official report on unidentified victims dates back to July 11, when government spokesperson Jorge Rodríguez said that authorities had yet to identify 315 people.
Rodríguez defended the official death toll and dismissed criticism regarding the number of missing people.
“From the very first day, on June 25, I personally appeared before you and reported the number of people who died. Those are individuals whose deaths during the two earthquakes we have officially confirmed. We cannot act on speculation; we must rely on verified facts,” he said.
Rodríguez also rejected claims that authorities had buried victims in mass graves.
“Imagine how someone who lost a loved one feels when people tell them we buried victims in mass graves,” he said.
He explained that authorities continue to safeguard the unidentified bodies at La Esperanza Cemetery in La Guaira state while identification efforts move forward.
“We photographed each person’s dental records. Whenever possible, we collected fingerprints. We also took a skin sample from every deceased person for DNA testing so that, when relatives come forward, we can identify their loved one and return the body for burial,” he explained.
