McDonald's outlet, bus station become clinics for quake victims in Venezuela

Four bags of intravenous fluid hang from the ceiling of a McDonald’s restaurant converted into a clinic in the aftermath of the two earthquakes in Venezuela, where thousands are flocking to makeshift health centres in the disaster’s epicentre.

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The double earthquake, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude, struck La Guaira state, which lacks the capacity for mass hospital care after widespread destruction, scores of collapsed buildings and more than 2,600 deaths.

A McDonald's restaurant in the hard-hit Caraballeda area is receiving dozens of people with “hypertensive crises, anxiety attacks and diarrhoeal symptoms”, said Karlys Figueroa, a 33-year-old surgeon and volunteer in disaster relief efforts.

The facility has become one of the makeshift field hospitals, with a triage area, a pharmacy, a storage area and spaces for psychological and veterinary care.

More than 30 doctors like Figueroa are treating the victims there.