Tuscany Joins Italian Rescue Mission to Earthquake-Hit Venezuela

Italian authorities are deploying a 41-member firefighting and civil protection team to Venezuela after the earthquake that struck the South American country.

The team is scheduled to depart on Friday morning from the Italian Air Force base at Pratica di Mare, near Rome, aboard a military aircraft. The mission has been organised by Italy’s Department of Civil Protection in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The deployment includes 25 specialists from the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) module, drawn from fire brigades in Piedmont, Liguria, Veneto and Lombardy. These rescuers are trained to locate and assist people trapped under collapsed buildings and other structures.

Tuscany will also play a role in the operation. Firefighters from the region are part of the Technical Assistance and Support Team (TAST), a unit responsible for logistics, mapping and the organisation of the operational base in the disaster area. The TAST contingent includes 12 personnel from Lombardy and Tuscany.

The mission also includes two technicians tasked with assessing conditions in the affected area and two emergency communications specialists responsible for coordinating information flows between teams in the field and Italian authorities.

The deployment is part of an international relief effort aimed at supporting local emergency services and accelerating search-and-rescue operations in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Italian firefighters have regularly taken part in international disaster-response missions, including major earthquakes in Turkey, Morocco and other countries in recent years. The involvement of personnel from Tuscany highlights the region’s contribution to Italy’s emergency-response system and its capacity to provide specialised support in complex humanitarian operations.

The deployment comes as Venezuela faces one of the deadliest natural disasters in its recent history. According to official figures released by Venezuelan authorities, at least 235 people have been confirmed dead and more than 4,300 injured after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the country between Wednesday night June 24 and Thursday June 25, 2026.

Tens of thousands of residents have been displaced, with around 70,000 families reportedly left without homes. A website set up to help locate missing people has received reports concerning more than 50,000 individuals whose whereabouts remain unknown, although those figures have not yet been independently verified. Search-and-rescue operations are continuing across the affected areas as emergency teams race to find survivors trapped under collapsed buildings and damaged infrastructure.

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