EXCLUSIVE: Franklin Graham visits emergency hospital treating Venezuela earthquake victims
FIRST ON FOX: Rev. Franklin Graham visited a Samaritan's Purse emergency field hospital in Venezuela, where doctors and nurses are performing life-saving surgeries and praying with earthquake survivors who have endured unimaginable loss.
Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, traveled with his daughter, Cissie Graham Lynch, to encourage relief teams and comfort people who lost loved ones, homes and nearly everything they owned.
Lynch, senior advisor and spokesperson for Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said one encounter with a local pastor stayed with her throughout the visit.
"Today, I saw both the immense suffering and the incredible strength of the Venezuelan people," Lynch told Fox News Digital. "I was deeply impacted by the story of a pastor who lost several members of his congregation in the earthquakes and is still serving his community. He said it all when he told us, 'I am here to serve and win souls for Christ.' I thank God for that faithful pastor and for the opportunity that we have to encourage and support him as he shares the hope of Jesus Christ in Venezuela."
"These people are surrounded by so much death and destruction. We want to bring the light of Jesus Christ into these places of pain," Franklin Graham told Fox News Digital.
"I'm thankful for our incredible teams who are doing just that. They are providing medical care, clean water, tents for shelter, and many other emergency supplies," he continued. "As they do this in Jesus' Name, they are comforting these families and praying with them during this time of intense grief and loss."
At the emergency field hospital in La Guaira, medical teams have treated more than 2,500 patients. The hospital includes two operating rooms, a pharmacy and a laboratory, while doctors continue performing orthopedic surgeries and treating infections and other conditions left untreated in the aftermath of the disaster.
Two powerful earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela just 37 seconds apart on June 24, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquakes killed more than 5,000 people and injured more than 16,000, according to figures announced by Venezuelan authorities. La Guaira was among the areas hardest hit.
More than 170 Samaritans Purse Disaster Assistance Response Team members are serving in some of the hardest-hit areas, including La Guaira, Playa Grande and Caraballeda, while aid is also being delivered through church partners in Caracas.
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Six Boeing 767 airlifts have carried 295 tons of relief supplies into the country. Samaritan's Purse said its aircraft were the first non-military flights to arrive in Venezuela following the earthquakes.
More than 10,200 families have received emergency supplies, including tents, tarps, solar lights, blankets, hygiene kits, cooking sets and Spanish Bibles.
The organization has also installed four emergency clinic modules for local healthcare facilities, with a fifth expected to open soon. The clinics are stocked with medical supplies and generators to help restore healthcare in communities devastated by the earthquakes.
Two desalination units have also produced more than 154,000 liters of clean water.
Samaritan's Purse said nearly every patient treated at its field hospital has lost a family member or close friend.
Among them was a father who injured his leg while rescuing another person's child from a collapsed 14-story building.
"It was terrifying," he said. "I thought a plane had crashed."
Another survivor was buried beneath the rubble after his apartment building collapsed, falling six floors and remaining trapped for two days without food, water or light before rescuers spent six hours pulling him to safety.
"I lose everything, I don't have anything," he said. "A nurse here made me paper shoes, I feel so happy for that."
For the survivor, the compassion and prayer he received proved just as meaningful as the medical care.
"The doctors pray with me," he said. "That's beautiful when they get on their knees and pray with me. I love that. Nobody do that for me."