| 12 Aug 2026
Humanitarian Needs in a Protracted Crisis: Systemic Impact of the June 2026 Venezuelan Earthquakes
Abstract. The Venezuelan humanitarian crisis is a protracted emergency characterized by systemic stagnation. This study measures the trend of humanitarian needs from 2020 to 2026 using the 7eed framework. The severity score reached a plateau of 16.5 (High Severity); additionally, the 2026 Need Score (130.5) represents an official baseline projection formulated prior to the June 24 seismic events. The twin earthquakes caused an estimated $37 million in losses and added 1.3 million people to the 2026 population in need.
This methodology identified a significant correlation between the collapsed health system and crisis stagnation at a high-severity level. The Syrian emergency serves as the most accurate comparative proxy for managing this health system collapse. Addressing a health system collapsed prior to seismic events requires holistic strategies; isolated, disaster-focused interventions risk becoming temporary solutions that deepen the crisis.
Comparing pre- and post-disaster severity and need scores validates the utility of this model in recognizing acute disaster impacts within a protracted emergency. Medium- and long-term planning must adopt a Triple Nexus approach, integrating humanitarian aid, peacebuilding, and development. Ultimately, utilizing the Need Score to guide funding allocation presents a critical opportunity to reduce human suffering by overcoming inefficiencies inherent in delayed emergency decision-making.
The manuscript details the recent Venezuelan Earthquake crisis. The authors have used the 7eed framework to quantify the baseline crisis, as well as analyzed the Venezuelan pre-event health system. It is a solid manuscript, and I have but a few minor comments.
(1) Table 2 of the 7eed framework (or the appendix) should highlight better where the source of the information of the individual values comes from. This is essential for reproducibility. Moreover the appendix table should be referenced as a second version of the table in the manuscript text. Lastly, the GNIPP indicator is ND (No Data?) in the appendix table, while it is 'extreme' in the 7eed table. Please provide a reasoning why this is the case.
(2) If comparing to the Syrian crisis (L346), please provide a few extra lines to briefly summarize it for context.
(3) Even though the central argument of this manuscript is the exacerbation of the crisis due to systemic impact, the pre-event baseline crisis and the earthquake duplet are treated quite separately. I believe that L395-402 is the key paragraph, where the connections between the two is made clearly and with evidence. This could be highlighted better, preferably in section 3.3, connecting the baseline crisis with the earthquakes already before the discussion.
Line-by-line comments:
L73: please refrain from the 'Richter' scale, it is not used anymore ('The initial seismic event measured a magnitude of 7.2' would suffice).
L110: 'The composite index...', The same line occurs twice.
L238: 37 million should be 37 billion.
L336: There is a typo 'hethe'
L339: number of 'affected' people.