Prime Min­is­ter Philip J. Pierre has ex­tend­ed con­do­lences on be­half of the Gov­ern­ment and Peo­ple of Saint Lu­cia to Venezuela fol­low­ing the dev­as­tat­ing earth­quakes that caused sig­nif­i­cant loss of life and wide­spread de­struc­tion.

In a state­ment, Pierre said Saint Lu­cia stood in sol­i­dar­i­ty with the peo­ple of Venezuela as they mourned those who died, cared for the in­jured and be­gan the process of re­cov­ery and re­build­ing.

"At this dif­fi­cult time, the peo­ple of Saint Lu­cia stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with the peo­ple of Venezuela as they mourn the lives lost, care for the in­jured, and be­gin the chal­leng­ing process of re­cov­ery and re­build­ing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones, those who have been dis­placed, and all com­mu­ni­ties af­fect­ed by this tragedy," he said.

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so ex­pressed pro­found sor­row over re­ports of ca­su­al­ties, in­juries and ex­ten­sive dam­age caused by the nat­ur­al dis­as­ter.

He con­veyed sup­port to Venezue­lan au­thor­i­ties and emer­gency re­spon­ders who con­tin­ue to as­sist af­fect­ed com­mu­ni­ties and pro­vide re­lief to those in need.

Pierre said the Gov­ern­ment and Peo­ple of Saint Lu­cia joined the in­ter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty in ex­tend­ing sym­pa­thies to Venezuela and wished the coun­try strength, re­silience and com­fort in the days ahead.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the fam­i­lies who have lost loved ones, those who have been dis­placed, and all com­mu­ni­ties af­fect­ed by this tragedy," he said.