2026 Venezuela Doublet

Lessons from the Venezuela Doublet: The Role of LAXNORTHEAST in Hospital Communications

Pasadena, July 3, 2026

On June 24, 2026, northern Venezuela experienced a devastating "doublet" earthquake—a magnitude 7.2 foreshock followed just 39 seconds later by a magnitude 7.5 mainshock. The disaster damaged or compromised 38 hospitals nationwide and pushed the country's healthcare system to its breaking point. For amateur radio operators supporting Los Angeles County hospitals, the aftermath of this event offers important lessons on the critical need for resilient backup communications.

The Communication Challenge and Resource Scarcity

In Venezuela, the loss of basic infrastructure severely hampered the medical response. At the Vargas-IVSS hospital in La Guaira, the facility lost power and had no working phone or internet connections to track patients. This complete loss of situational awareness compounded an already severe medical crisis. Without the ability to communicate capacity, request supplies, or divert incoming casualties to other locations, Vargas-IVSS saw 96 patients crammed into a ward designed for only eight beds.

Parallels to Southern California

It is critical to recognize that Southern California shares similar seismic and infrastructural vulnerabilities. Seismologists have long warned of doublet earthquakes in California and have even modeled a plausible scenario for the Los Angeles area, in which a magnitude 7.25 earthquake on the Newport-Inglewood fault is followed hours later by a magnitude 7.05 quake on the Palos Verdes fault.

Furthermore, much of the severe structural damage in Venezuela occurred in coastal areas built on soft, sedimentary soils. Because soft soil amplifies seismic waves, the shaking in these areas was much more violent. Many heavily populated areas of the Los Angeles basin sit on similar sedimentary ground, increasing the risk of widespread infrastructural failure during a prolonged doublet event.

ARES and the Last Line of Defense

When standard telephone and internet networks fail during a major seismic event, amateur radio operators serve as a vital last line of defense. In Los Angeles County, these operations are standardized under the EMS Agency's Amateur Radio Communications Reference 1132.

Under this framework, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) provides a dedicated pool of specialized, pre-assigned operators to support the EMS Agency's Medical Coordination Center (MCC) and local healthcare facilities. During an activation, ARES dispatches Net Control operators to manage the flow of medical and health-related radio traffic directly to the MCC, ensuring an orderly and efficient communication network.

The LAXNORTHEAST Mission

Organizations like LAXNORTHEAST practice regularly to mitigate the exact types of situational awareness failures seen at the Vargas-IVSS hospital. When a hospital's primary communication lines go dark, LAXNORTHEAST operators step in to ensure the flow of critical information doesn't stop.

By actively exchanging hospital service levels, bed availability reports, resource requests, and ICS forms with the EMS Agency and other hospitals, operators provide the situational awareness necessary to route incoming patients to facilities with open beds.

The twin earthquakes in Venezuela illustrate how quickly a natural disaster can sever the lines of communication required to coordinate a medical response. By maintaining readiness through ARES and adhering to LA County protocols, LAXNORTHEAST operators stand ready to provide reliable, life-saving communications when our hospitals need them most.