The World Bank has estimated that the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela last month caused $19.6bn in direct physical damage, an assessment intended to guide the government and international partners as they plan the country's reconstruction, the multilateral lender said on July 23.

The findings come from a Global Rapid Damage Estimation, or GRADE, which the World Bank said was designed to give an early picture of the scale of rebuilding required and to help prioritise recovery efforts as Venezuela confronts one of the most significant disasters in its recent history.

According to the assessment, 47% of the total damage occurred in residential buildings, with infrastructure accounting for 27% and non-residential buildings for 26%. La Guaira state and the Distrito Capital, which includes Caracas, were the worst-affected areas, together accounting for around half of the total damage.

The bank's figure is less than half the $37bn in direct physical damage estimated by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, in an assessment released on July 14. That estimate attributed about $24bn of the damage to commercial properties, homes, schools, hospitals and other public buildings, with a further $13bn linked to infrastructure, including $5bn to telecommunications networks alone. The two earthquakes measured 7.2 and 7.5 on the Richter scale and struck the north-central region 39 seconds apart on June 24, according to the report, which covered only direct physical damage and excluded losses from business interruption, emergency response costs and reduced economic activity, suggesting the overall economic toll would be considerably higher.

Building on the GRADE findings, the World Bank carried out a further assessment of the disaster's macroeconomic and social implications, concluding that the pace of reconstruction would be a decisive factor in shaping Venezuela's recovery. Under current levels of public and private investment, the bank said, rebuilding would largely depend on redirecting resources from other investment projects and would remain incomplete even after a decade, with lasting damage to economic activity. A faster reconstruction effort, backed by higher public and private investment, would help limit the economic and social fallout, the assessment found.

"The earthquakes have disrupted lives, damaged critical infrastructure, and created new challenges for Venezuela's recovery," said Susana Cordeiro Guerra, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean. "Recovering effectively begins with reliable evidence. This assessment gives the Government of Venezuela and its partners an early objective foundation for recovery planning, and the World Bank Group is committed to supporting that effort every step of the way."

The World Bank said it was working with the Venezuelan government and development partners, including the Inter-American Development Bank, which shared data used in preparing the report, and the Development Bank of Latin America, to determine what additional technical and financial support would be needed for further damage assessment and reconstruction, drawing on its experience of disaster recovery elsewhere in the region.

Venezuela has separately secured access to $346m from its reserve tranche at the International Monetary Fund to help finance reconstruction, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said. Rodríguez said the funds would go towards housing, infrastructure and essential public services, and thanked IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva for her support. The release follows the IMF's resumption of relations with Venezuela in April, after a suspension in place since 2019, and leaves the country with close to $5bn in overall IMF assets, including its Special Drawing Rights holdings, IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack has said.

Venezuela's unicameral National Assembly has also passed reforms aimed at accelerating the construction of housing developments as part of the country's rebuilding drive.

That effort is unfolding alongside a US-backed push for a political transition in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying formal negotiations between the interim government, which took office following the US capture of then-president Nicolas Maduro in January, and opposition representatives are expected to begin in the first week of August. Washington has already disbursed $180m of a pledged $300m in earthquake assistance, Rubio said, adding that the US was also seeking to help Caracas secure access to international funding and credit for rebuilding.

According to the Venezuelan government’s latest figures, the earthquakes have killed 5,398 people, injured 16,740 and left 23,000 homeless, while damaging 856 buildings, of which 190 collapsed completely.