UN News Today 30 June 2026 |

Venezuela earthquake: Breakdown of services, disease risks and health workers missing 

Search and rescue operations are continuing in Venezuela where thousands of displaced survivors are struggling to find shelter and humanitarians issued an alert over the spread of infectious disease.

It’s been six days since powerful back-to-back earthquakes struck central-northern Venezuela, causing widespread devastation.

“Food shortages are widespread” in La Guaira, the hardest-hit state, said UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

Here’s spokesperson Carlotta Wolf:

“Basic services have broken down, and connectivity has been largely severed”, while community tensions are rising as access to assistance is constrained.”

There’s also been scenes of panic in the aftermath of the disaster as people seek rapid access to aid, the UNHCR spokesperson added.

An urgent needs assessment across La Guaira, the Capital District, Miranda, Aragua and Carabobo states showed that half of those surveyed are now staying with neighbours or relatives, while almost four in 10 “are living in streets and public spaces…churches, schools, or improvised facilities”, Ms. Wolf said.

DR Congo Ebola crisis could push one million more into poverty

To the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it’s feared that the deadly Ebola outbreak could push nearly one million more people into a poverty spiral – and cost the economy of the African continent some $3.6 billion.

That’s the worrying message from the UN Development Programme, UNDP, which on Tuesday called for urgently needed resources to stop the health emergency from becoming a prolonged development crisis in DRC and beyond.

A total of 300,000 jobs are at risk, said UNDP country lead, Damien Mama.

Speaking from Kinshasa, he reported that there have been more than 1,400 confirmed cases of Ebola Bundibugyo virus in this latest outbreak, along with 350 deaths in the DRC and Uganda.

Those numbers are continuing to rise all the time and people are increasingly worried, he insisted:

“We are seeing the impact in real time. Jobs are disappearing, markets are slowing down, and families are being pushed to the edge. When people lose income and access to basic goods, they face impossible choices. And in some cases, survival pressures lead them to break quarantine or isolation measures, like broader health, public health measures, which increases the risk of transmission.”

More than 90 per cent of confirmed cases of Ebola disease are concentrated in Ituri province, which is the epicentre of the outbreak.

It is also a major hub for cross-border trade with neighbouring countries, particularly Uganda. 

Even if the outbreak is contained, DRC alone could lose more than $1 billion and 55,000 jobs, UNDP estimates.

The virus is a particular threat because six out of 10 people in the country already live under the poverty line. 

Strait of Hormuz gradual reopening is no quick fix for developing nations: UNCTAD

As the Strait of Hormuz reopens gradually to shipping, UN economists warned on Tuesday that although energy markets may recover relatively quickly, least-developed countries will not.

This is because more than 100 days of disruption in the strategic waterway caused by the Israeli-US Iran war have caused massive disruption to freight contracts, supply chains and food systems which have hit nations with fragile economies, hard.

And according to the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, these higher fuel, natural gas and fertilizer costs will likely continue affecting transport costs, food prices and household budgets in developing countries well after the initial shock subsides.

One example is Cabo Verde, which the agency say is especially at risk, as it is heavily dependent on imported fuel.

Because of the crisis, prices are much higher there for electricity, transport and food; and there’s been a clear human cost too, UNCTAD says, pointing to an increased risk of acute child malnutrition in the Portuguese-speaking island nation.

In total, 61 already vulnerable nations have been exposed to oil and cereal import shocks, the agency said, in its latest report on the Hormuz shipping crunch. 

Daniel Johnson, UN News