The potential Venezuela Death Care crisis

June 29, 2026/Business, Regulations/

As you are well aware of two large-scale earthquakes occured in Venezuela last week. As I write this article on Saturday morning June 27, the official death toll in the country is listed at 920 but there are tens of thousands reported missing. Some sources estimate that the death toll could reach over 50,000 people.

Just for comparison, official records indicate that 2,753 people died in New York as a result of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster in 2001.

At present the following have been sent to help in the rescue efforts:

The U.S. DART Deployment: Urban search and rescue units, physicians, and firefighters. DART= Disaster Assistance Response Team
Americares and Direct Relief: Medical and Logistics non-profits are deploying large-scale trauma medication and orthopedic supplies
European Delegation: Medical personnel, forensic experts and search specialists from France, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
United Kingdom: The United Kingdom has sent advanced sesimic listening technology, drones, and cutting tools along with teams to operate such.

What about the need for licensed funeral directors? : When I searched for information about this question, I found that the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, had issued this statement, “Due to severe logistical bottlenecks, heavily damaged airports, and intense safety concerns, the U.S. Embassy warns that traveling without a prearranged, officially hosted international organization is strictly forbidden. . . . .No official U.S. federal disaster mortuary team is being organized or deployed to Venezuela at this time.”

I also found this information about Federal DMORT teams: “Federal DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) teams are designed and funded primarily for domestic missions, though they are technically capable of deploying internationally.”

Here’s information from Grokipedia about the Federal Disaster Mortuary Operation Response Team. According to that article, DMORT’s first international activiation was for the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Here’s what Grokipedia said about that:

“While the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) primarily supports domestic mass fatality incidents within the United States, it has undertaken limited international deployments, often coordinated through federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to assist with the identification and repatriation of American citizens. A notable example occurred following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, marking DMORT’s first overseas activation. In response to the disaster that killed over 200,000 people, HHS deployed a DMORT along with a portable morgue unit to Haiti at the request of the Department of State, focusing on recovering, identifying, and repatriating the remains of 38 deceased U.S. citizens. This effort involved forensic pathology, dentistry, and anthropology to process remains amid challenging conditions, including limited infrastructure and high environmental degradation. Internationally, DMORT’s model shares similarities with other nations’ disaster. “

I was able to find information from web searches about possible global health organizations that may eventually send mortuary teams to Venezuela. The information that I found says that if interested you should register with them as they are “collecting credentials for the ongoing rcovery phases”. Project Hope specifically mentions “as mortuary or field needs arise”.

While I found no information that mortuary teams will be activated to help in this Venezuelan crises I did find the following organizations that suggested registering with them if you are interesting in helping.