On 24 June 2026, two powerful earthquakes struck north-central Venezuela within seconds of each other.
The first, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, was followed only 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock. The United States Geological Survey described the event as an earthquake doublet and warned that the sequence was likely to cause significant landslides across the affected area.
The scale of the disaster developed rapidly.
By 14 July 2026, the Pan American Health Organization reported that the earthquakes had caused 4,333 deaths, injured 16,740 people, displaced 17,907 people and damaged 38 health facilities. The emergency had entered an early recovery phase, but communities continued to face significant health, infrastructure and humanitarian needs.
For one member of the DDC team, these were not distant statistics.
They represented family members, friends, healthcare professionals and communities in her home country.
Delia Salinas, DDC’s Digital Marketing Specialist, is Venezuelan.
When the earthquakes struck, she began receiving updates about the destruction, uncertainty, and pressure facing people across the affected areas. As the situation developed, she was following it professionally through the news, but experiencing it personally through the people and places connected to her life.
“When the earthquakes happened, I was not only reading about a humanitarian emergency. I was thinking about my family, my friends and the healthcare professionals trying to help people in a country that means everything to me.”
“I spoke to the DDC team because I believed we could do something practical. They listened, supported me immediately and helped turn that personal concern into a company-wide initiative.”
This campaign did not begin as a planned corporate responsibility exercise.
It began with an employee explaining why the crisis mattered and asking whether the company could help.
DDC’s response was to support the proposal, involve colleagues and create practical opportunities for employees, customers, suppliers and partners to contribute.
The earthquakes affected at least seven Venezuelan states, causing widespread damage to homes, roads, public infrastructure and healthcare facilities. The sequence also created a substantial risk of landslides, particularly across mountainous areas of northern Venezuela.
However, they can also reduce the healthcare system’s ability to respond at precisely the moment demand increases. Damaged hospitals, interrupted utilities, displaced staff and disrupted transport routes can delay treatment and increase infection, rehabilitation and mental-health risks.
The World Health Organization has emphasised that earthquake-related health effects continue long after the initial event. Survivors may require extended rehabilitation, ongoing medical care and psychological support, while damaged health facilities can remain under pressure throughout the recovery period.
WHO also stated that the Venezuela earthquake compounded an existing humanitarian crisis and placed additional strain on a health system already struggling to meet people’s needs.
DDC is a UK-based healthcare company specialising in infection-control equipment and solutions for hospitals, care homes and other care environments.
Since 1991, DDC has supported healthcare organisations with medical pulp macerators, bedpan washer disinfectors, installation, servicing, consumables and technical expertise. Its work focuses on creating safer healthcare environments and helping protect patients, clinicians and residents from avoidable infection risks.
DDC is not a disaster-relief organisation.
However, the business understands the importance of reliable healthcare infrastructure, safe waste management, infection prevention and protecting frontline teams.
Those priorities become even more critical during a major emergency.
The decision to support Healing Venezuela therefore reflects two connected reasons:
This is where DDC’s corporate purpose and workplace culture meet.
Supporting employees should involve more than policies and benefits. It should also mean listening when an issue affects someone personally and considering whether the organisation can respond responsibly.
Healing Venezuela is a UK-registered charity working to improve healthcare provision and support vulnerable communities across Venezuela.
The charity works through established relationships with hospitals, medical institutions and healthcare professionals. Its programmes include junior-doctor support, potable-water systems, medical equipment, hospital infrastructure, point-of-care ultrasound, reproductive health, food security and telemedicine.
This existing healthcare network is important. It means the organisation was already connected to medical professionals and institutions before the earthquakes occurred and could contribute through established local partnerships rather than attempting to build a response from outside the country.
Healing Venezuela is registered in England and Wales under Charity No. 1170709. The partnership proposal also states that the organisation operates according to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
According to the official fundraising campaign, Healing Venezuela’s response has included:
These activities connect directly with the wider health needs created by the disaster.
DDC employees will support the appeal through two charity cake sales and a sponsored Jurassic Coast walk.
The cake sales will take place at DDC’s Poole headquarters on:
Employees can participate by baking, bringing shop-bought treats, purchasing cakes or helping to organise the events.
On 18 September 2026, DDC colleagues will take part in a sponsored 7.2 km walk near Worth Matravers in Dorset.
The distance is not accidental.
By walking 7.2 km, our colleagues will turn that number into a visible act of solidarity.
Participants will seek sponsorship from friends, family, customers, suppliers and professional contacts, with every donation supporting Healing Venezuela’s healthcare and recovery work.
The route may be 7.2 km, but the meaning behind it reaches much further.
DDC’s customers include hospitals, care homes, estates teams, facilities professionals, procurement leaders and healthcare decision-makers.
These audiences understand that healthcare resilience depends on people, equipment, infrastructure and reliable systems working together.
This campaign is not a product promotion.
It is an opportunity for a healthcare company and its wider professional network to support a credible organisation responding to a health emergency.
DDC’s role is limited but meaningful:
DDC’s day-to-day work is technical.
It involves equipment, engineering, servicing, infection prevention and safer healthcare processes.
But the outcome is always human.
It is about protecting patients from avoidable risks, helping clinicians work safely and supporting residents to receive dignified care.
The Venezuela earthquake appeal brings that principle into a different context.
It began because one employee was personally affected. It developed because colleagues listened. It is continuing because DDC recognises that a company working in healthcare should be prepared to support people and healthcare communities when circumstances become exceptionally difficult.
Customers, suppliers, partners and members of the wider community can support the initiative by donating, sponsoring a colleague or sharing the appeal.
Every step, every slice and every donation can contribute to medical assistance and longer-term recovery for people affected by the earthquakes.
Photography by https://www.instagram.com/altuveb17