Military officers from the Vietnamese rescue mission to Venezuela search for earthquake victims in Playa Grande, La Guaira on July 2. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — The relief operation in Venezuela is the most difficult and dangerous mission Việt Nam has ever undertaken, surpassing its earthquake relief tasks in Turkey in 2023 and Myanmar in 2025, Major General Phạm Văn Tỵ, deputy director of the Rescue and Relief Department under the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army, told reporters.

Speaking from Playa Grande in La Guaira state hardest hit by Venezuela’s twin earthquakes, Tỵ, who is head of the Vietnamese mission, said conditions vary sharply from country to country. Turkey brought freezing cold, while Myanmar and Venezuela threw extreme heat at responders.

Tỵ described the twin quakes Venezuela’s deadliest seismic disaster in more than a century, with thousands killed. High temperatures accelerated the decomposition of victims still trapped beneath collapsed buildings, he said.

Every site the Vietnamese team searched had already been worked by international rescue crews who found the mission extraordinarily hard. Yet a sense of international obligation and the solidarity and affection Việt Nam holds for Venezuela drove the team to refuse to back away from the dangers, he said.

Major General Phạm Văn Tỵ, deputy director of the Rescue and Relief Department under the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army, speak to reporters in Playa Grande.

Colonel Phạm Hùng Dương, deputy director of the Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security and deputy head of the Vietnamese mission, added that the operation also has several tailwinds despite the hazards.

Those included a strong sense of responsibility among all officers and personnel, experience from previous overseas humanitarian and disaster-relief missions, tight coordination between military and public security forces, and support from Venezuelan authorities, he said. — VNA/VNS