Before the Venezuela deployment, Major General Pham Van Ty, Deputy Director of the Search and Rescue Department under the General Staff and Head of the Vietnamese search and rescue (SAR) contingent in Venezuela, had led Vietnamese SAR contingents in the earthquake relief operations in Türkiye in 2023 and Myanmar in 2025. Speaking at the rescue site in Playa Grande, La Guaira state, which was hardest hit by Venezuela's twin earthquakes, Gen. Ty noted that operational conditions differed significantly from one country to another. While Türkiye presented severe cold weather, Myanmar and Venezuela posed the challenge of extreme heat.
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Major General Pham Van Ty, Head of the Vietnamese SAR contingent in Venezuela |
Emphasizing that Venezuela's twin earthquakes, the country's deadliest seismic disaster in more than a century, claimed thousands of lives, the Vietnamese general pointed out that the high temperatures accelerated the decomposition of victims buried beneath the rubble.
“At the search sites, the air was saturated with the odor of decomposing bodies. At first, members of the Vietnamese team wore three face masks and applied medicated oil, yet once they entered collapsed buildings, they could only remain inside for about 10 to 15 minutes before having to rotate out,” he said.
According to Gen. Ty, the experience also provided valuable lessons for future missions. Above all, rescuers must be mentally prepared and consider search for victims as searching for their own family members. Only with such determination could they endure the harsh conditions and the severe physical and psychological demands of the mission.
Driven by that mindset, the Vietnamese rescuers have raced against time, striving to recover as many victims as possible in the hope of easing the suffering of grieving families in the hope of easing the pain of grieving families and the Venezuelan people as a whole.
Given the large number of collapsed high-rise buildings, the extreme weather, and the continuing aftershocks, Gen. Ty assessed that the mission in Venezuela was “the most difficult and dangerous” compared with previous deployments to Türkiye and Myanmar.
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Deputy Head of the Vietnamese SAR contingent Senior Colonel Pham Hung Duong |
“At every search location where the Vietnamese team operated, international rescue teams had previously assessed the sites and found them extremely difficult to work in. Nevertheless, motivated by our sense of international responsibility and, above all, by Vietnam's solidarity with Venezuela, we did not hesitate to face hardship and danger,” Gen. Ty affirmed.
Echoing these remarks, Senior Colonel Pham Hung Duong, Deputy Director of the Police Department of Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue under the Ministry of Public Security and Deputy Head of the Vietnamese SAR contingent, noted that despite the immense challenges and risks, the mission also benefited from several important advantages. These included the strong sense of responsibility demonstrated by all participating personnel, the valuable experience gained from previous international humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, the close coordination between the military and public security forces, and the facilitation provided by the Venezuelan authorities.
By Hoang Vu (from La Guaira, Venezuela)
Translated by Mai Huong