ADRA, the humanitarian agency supported by the Adventist Church, set up an emergency response in Venezuela after two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck the north of the country on June 24, 2026, roughly a minute apart. According to UNICEF, it was the most significant seismic event to strike Venezuela in more than a century.
The agency's work was organized on two fronts — water, sanitation and hygiene, and food security — prioritizing homes with young children and older adults, ADRA Brazil reported. On the financial side, ADRA International allocated an initial fund of US$ 100,000 and, in Brazil, a national donation campaign had raised R$ 170,494.75 as of July 1, 2026, according to Notícias Adventistas, the Adventist Church's official portal for South America.
For Pathfinder families, the episode connects two things that go hand in hand in the movement: service to others and the structure of the Church itself, which maintains ADRA as its assistance arm. Below we gather what has been verified in official sources as of July 1, 2026.
What happened in northern Venezuela
The two tremors occurred in almost immediate succession on the afternoon of June 24, 2026. According to UNICEF, the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes followed one another about a minute apart and formed the most severe seismic episode to strike Venezuela in more than a hundred years.
The human scale is what conveys the weight of the disaster. UNICEF estimates that 1.8 million people need humanitarian assistance because of the earthquakes, of whom 680,000 are children. According to the same assessment by the UN agency, preliminary satellite analyses indicated that close to a third of the buildings in the most affected area evaluated up to that point — Catia La Mar, in the state of La Guaira — suffered damage, with hospitals operating beyond capacity and schools compromised.
In situations like this, the first days concentrate the most immediate risks: lack of safe water, crowding of people displaced from their homes, and the danger of diseases linked to poor sanitation. That is where rapid-response organizations come in, and ADRA was one of them.
ADRA's two-front response
According to ADRA Brazil, the agency's initial work was structured along two parallel lines, chosen because they were the most urgent right after the disaster.
The first front is water, sanitation and hygiene: access to safe water, purification, distribution of personal hygiene kits, and assessment of sanitary conditions in the affected communities. The second is food security, with the delivery of emergency food baskets to families who lost access to food.
ADRA reported that distribution prioritizes the most vulnerable groups: homes with children under five years old and older adults. It is a common criterion in humanitarian responses, because these are the groups that fall ill most quickly when clean water and adequate nutrition are lacking.
"When an emergency of this scale happens, the response needs to be fast, organized and collective," said Hebert Boger, director of ADRA Brazil, in a statement reproduced by Notícias Adventistas. The remark sums up the logic of the work: act early, with method, and by pooling efforts across several countries.
The resources: US$ 100,000 initially and more than R$ 170,000 in Brazil
On the financial side, the mobilization had two levels. ADRA International allocated an initial fund of US$ 100,000 to launch the operation, according to ADRA Brazil.
In parallel, ADRA Brazil opened a national fundraising campaign. According to Notícias Adventistas, as of July 1, 2026 the initiative had gathered R$ 170,494.75 in donations. The funds raised in Brazil, the agency reported, are forwarded to ADRA Venezuela through ADRA International and help expand the delivery of kits and essential items to affected families.
The figure remains in motion — the amount is a snapshot of July 1, not a final total. A reading reminder is worth noting: fundraising figures and the numbers of people affected in disasters are usually revised in the following days, as new assessments reach the ground.
Read alsoMaranata Norte 2026 gathers 6,500 young people and aims for 500 blood bags in BelémWhat ADRA is and how it connects to the Pathfinders
ADRA stands for Adventist Development and Relief Agency. It is the humanitarian arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and operates in more than a hundred countries with development projects and emergency responses — floods, droughts, conflicts and, as now, earthquakes.
For the Pathfinder audience, the connection is natural. The Pathfinder Club is a ministry of the same Church, coordinated in South America by the South American Division (SAD) — the administrative region that brings together eight countries, among them Brazil and Venezuela. Serving others is one of the pillars of the movement: it is in the ideal, in the motto "Ready to serve," and in the practice of community projects that many clubs already carry out throughout the year.
It is no surprise that solidarity campaigns tend to find an echo in units and clubs. An international emergency like Venezuela's is a concrete opportunity to turn that ideal into action — whether through a donation or by talking with children and teenagers about what it means to help those who are far away and in difficulty.
How to help
ADRA Brazil advised that donations to the campaign can be made via Pix, through the key [email protected], according to Notícias Adventistas. The funds are directed to the response in Venezuela through ADRA International.
Before donating, a common-sense recommendation that applies to any emergency: always confirm the channels on ADRA's official page. Scams take advantage of tragedies, creating fake keys and pages that mimic real campaigns. The official links are listed at the end of this report.
For clubs and families who want to go beyond an individual donation, it is worth combining the action with the leadership of the local church, which can advise on the safest way to take part and on any mobilizations coordinated by the Field (the Conference or Mission to which the club belongs).
What to watch in the coming days
Humanitarian responses evolve quickly. In the days following the disaster, both the number of people reached and the total raised tend to change, and new fronts may open as needed — shelter, health and psychological support often gain ground as the most acute phase passes.
To follow updated and reliable data, the path is to go to the primary sources: the official channels of ADRA Brazil and the Notícias Adventistas portal, which report on the campaign's progress, and UNICEF, which releases assessments on the situation of children in the country. This report gathers the facts verified as of July 1, 2026, and will be a snapshot of that moment.
In the end, what matters remains: behind every number there are families trying to start over. The fast, organized and collective response the director of ADRA Brazil spoke of is precisely the opposite of paralysis in the face of tragedy — and it is a value the Pathfinder movement seeks to teach early.