u/CrosstalkWithMePablo

First of all, this post is mostly aimed at non-venezuelans (or venezuelans living abroad like myself) who are looking for information on what happened and how to help. If you have any ideas of other subreddits, social media, or communities where I can post something similar for a larger outreach, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

On June 24, 2026, two massive earthquakes — a magnitude 7.2 earthquake followed just 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake — struck northern Venezuela near Caracas. It's the strongest earthquake the country has seen in more than 100 years. Entire neighborhoods in Caracas, La Guaira, Catia La Mar, and Morón have been reduced to rubble, the main international airport was closed due to structural damage, and rescue crews are still pulling survivors (and bodies) out of collapsed buildings days later.

As of the latest official update (June 26): the confirmed death toll stands at 920, with 3,360+ injured — and both numbers are still climbing as search-and-rescue continues. Separately, independent crowd-sourced missing-persons trackers have logged tens of thousands of unconfirmed missing reports (estimates from different sites range from roughly 50,000 to over 70,000).

This disaster landed on a country that was already in no shape to absorb it. Hospitals were operating over capacity before the quakes, with chronic shortages of equipment and medication. Power outages are frequent and ongoing. Years of skilled workers (engineers, doctors, etc) have left the country, hollowing out exactly the expertise needed for earthquake response and rebuilding. Put simply: this earthquake hit one of the least-prepared health and infrastructure systems in the hemisphere.

If you want to help, give money, not goods, and give directly to established relief organizations — not to random crowdfunding pages. Donated clothes/food/water often just clog up the response and never make it anywhere useful, and there's already a wave of fake charity scams circulating, per the FTC. The orgs below run their own people and independent local partners on the ground, rather than channeling aid through state agencies, so your money goes straight to the people who need it.

Top ways to donate directly to the ground:

1. We Love Foundation (formerly I Love Venezuela Foundation) — gofundme.com/f/emergency-relief-for-venezuela-earthquake-victims — a registered 501(c)(3) that's worked in Venezuela for 13 years, deploying aid through local volunteers and on-the-ground Venezuelan nonprofit partners (plus GEM/Global Empowerment Mission), not government channels. Smaller org, but a real track record — verify you're on their officially linked campaign before giving.
2. World Central Kitchen — wck.org/donate — already pledged $1M, runs its own kitchens with local chefs to get hot meals and water out fast.
3. Direct Relief — directrelief.org/donate — ships medicine and medical supplies straight to local clinics and first responders; well-regarded for transparency in past disasters (Haiti, Nepal, Turkey-Syria).
4. GlobalGiving Venezuela Earthquake Relief Fund — globalgiving.org/projects/venezuela-earthquake-relief-fund — funnels donations directly to small, vetted local/grassroots organizations already embedded in the affected communities. 4-star Charity Navigator rating, BBB Wise Giving accredited.
5. Cruz Roja (Red Cross) — supporting the Venezuelan Red Cross's hospital and clinic network on the ground — www2.cruzroja.es/-/ayuda-terremoto-venezuela-2026

Other solid options if you want to diversify: Yummy (smartphone app, does deliveries in Venezuela), International Rescue Committee, Catholic Relief Services / Caritas Venezuela, Team Rubicon, and International Medical Corps — all already deployed with their own teams.

Please verify any org yourself before giving (type the URL in directly rather than clicking links from messages), and watch for new "official-looking" fundraisers that pop up in the next few days — disasters always bring out scammers alongside the real relief effort.

Following on from this post, I emailed support to register my disappointment.

I got the following reply.

>Hi!

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback and use case regarding downloads on the website.

>We understand that this change has been frustrating for many users, especially those who relied on downloads as part of their regular learning routine.

>When Dreaming Spanish was a much smaller project, allowing direct downloads was a simple way to give learners flexibility and let them access content offline or on different devices. 

>As the platform has grown, we've had to think more carefully about how we protect (from improper use and distribution) the content library that we've spent years creating and that allows us to continue supporting the project.

>Now that we have the resources to offer offline viewing through our mobile apps, it makes more sense for us to provide downloads in a way that balances flexibility for learners with the long-term sustainability of the platform.

>That said, we've heard the feedback loud and clear. We understand that many users were using downloads for a variety of reasons beyond offline viewing, including watching on different devices, traveling, and integrating Dreaming Spanish into their personal learning workflows.

>We're continuing to explore ways to expand access to our content across more devices and use cases while ensuring we can continue creating and maintaining the library that our members rely on.

>As always, we greatly appreciate your support as a member of our community.

>¡Saludos!

They didn't include my name at the top like they usually do, which could suggest it's been written then pasted into several responses, but I don't know.

I'd much prefer they "explore ways to expand access...across more devices" before removing it from the website.

Personally, and I stress personally, I find it unsatisfactory. I'm really trying not to read from it that they've identified a theoretical risk that a small number of bad actors might rip them off and the rest of us have to suffer as a consequence.

I watched a couple and enjoyed them, hopefully somebody else does too :)

This won't be for everyone, but infinite scroll content is my enemy so I try to use RSS as much as possible. I've been trialling this sub in my RSS reader for a couple of weeks and it's working well for me.

The URL is https://www.reddit.com/r/dreamingspanish/.rss for anyone interested. It works for any sub by putting .rss after the URL.