Clean Water for the Long Haul
In Urbanización Brisas de Maiquetía, roughly 2,500 residents across 20 apartment towers were displaced when the earthquakes damaged their homes and the water infrastructure they depended on. Families sheltered in tents in the streets, parking lots, and gardens with no reliable access to safe water.
We’ve now installed and activated the 6th and final AquaBlock in the community, in partnership with Planet Water. Each unit produces 700 liters of potable water per hour, serving 3,500 residents and built to keep serving them for the next 10 years. The system runs on a 1-million-liter reservoir that had been knocked offline by earthquake damage to the surrounding pipes, now restored to full use.
Clean water access has extended beyond Brisas de Maiquetía too:
- Mare Abajo: 22 water filtration systems and 400 diapers delivered to families with babies and young children, addressing one of the greatest ongoing challenges for households rebuilding after the quakes.
- Carabobo: Three hours from La Guaira, this community had limited clean water access even before the earthquake. This week, families there received 7 water tanks and 22 water filters, reaching around 500 people — a reminder that as aid concentrates on the coast, inland communities are still waiting.
- Tanguarenas: Water filtration systems delivered alongside shovels, hygiene kits, mattresses, and mosquito nets to a church now serving as a community hub.
Restoring Routines: Showers and Laundry
At El Campito, a former baseball field turned shelter since day one of the response, our team built showers so residents have access to safe, clean, private bathing facilities.
In Mare Abajo, we built a new laundry facility to bring a sense of normalcy back to displaced families navigating the transition toward new homes, part of a broader effort with Action Against Hunger that began with emergency showers and is now expanding. As one community member put it, a laundry center helps people recover their routines with dignity.
Equipping the Responders
Recovery in Venezuela is being carried out by local firefighters, civil protection teams, and volunteer rescue groups working long after the initial response window has closed. We’ve worked to keep them equipped:
- Heavy machinery, breakers, saws, cutters, drills, and storage gear delivered to Grupo de Rescate Enrique Bourgoin, still working on damaged structures more than a month after the earthquakes.
- Heavy-duty tools delivered to the Topos, a Mexican search-and-rescue team searching the rubble for those still unaccounted for.
- Shovels and saws delivered to firefighters and civil protection teams in Catia La Mar, still clearing debris on the frontlines.
- Ongoing shovel deliveries to firefighter teams working to clear rubble and debris left behind across the city.
We’re also helping establish community Tool Banks with local fire departments and rescue organizations, stocking concrete breakers, drills, saws, shovels, and other equipment that responders and neighbors can borrow as recovery continues. Leaving these tools in the community’s hands means recovery doesn’t stop when the response teams do.
Supporting Frontline Organizations
The Christian Center for the Family in La Guaira operates 24/7, distributing over 1,000 meals a day and supporting families and rescuers. To help keep temperature-sensitive medicines and medical supplies safely stored, we donated a cooler and refrigerator to support their effort.
Our team also delivered food, hygiene kits, and mattresses to local educators in Maiquetía, La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit areas.
We’re Still Here
Six weeks in, our commitment hasn’t changed. From emergency water systems built to last a decade, to tools left in community hands, to spaces that restore daily dignity, All Hands & Hearts is providing medium- and long-term solutions for the communities of Venezuela, and we’ll be here for the long haul.
Make a Difference
The need is still ongoing. Your support allows us to continue showing up by working alongside communities, supporting local efforts, and doing everything we can to help families recover in the long term.
Thank you for your support.
