Vargas Tragedy | Venzuela

Flood-related disasters are a part of the history of Venezuela and a normality in the region. Although there has always been risks associated with Northern Venezuela and debris flows, the risk has been heightened due to the removal of forests on alluvial plains and the placement of settlements. The physical characteristics of the area play a role in the vulnerability to flooding and debris flows. Northern Venezuela is rich in very steep topography that is caused by east-west oriented faults that is broken at the foot slopes, rivers that flow into the Caribbean Sea, and flat alluvial plains. The 1999 mudslide was caused by polar frontal systems that caused extraordinary rains at the end of the rainy season. The narrow coastal area doesn’t allow for the land to buffer the effects of the downpour as there was debris flow from all basins of the northern face of the Venezuelan Caribbean mountain range. The rain water created saturated sediments and caused a decrease in resistance. This caused the sediments to have nowhere to go but downslope and into the urbanized areas of the floodplains.
The steep topography is only half of the equation when it comes to the vulnerability of the disaster of 1999. The socio-economic pressures that led to the population being highly vulnerable is the growth of urbanization where it isn’t advised. There was a lack of urban and territorial planning programs by the government in order to ensure safe developments. Settlements began to be built on the alluvial fan for economic gains and access to job opportunities. Roughly fifty percent of the population in Venezuela live in the coastal-mountain geographic zone due to high economic activities in the region, putting them in more vulnerable areas. Due to the high risk of these areas the urban developments are cheaper, and therefore appealing to populations with the lowest economic resources causing them to be marginalized. To gain access to jobs and economic resources houses must be built in zones of maximum slopes and marginal areas of rivers and creek.

As a reaction to the disaster, the national government first declared a state of emergency for the territory of Vergas on December 6th. Four days, on December 11th, later the first army battalion was sent to rescue 500 affected people. By December 16th, five states were declared to be in a state of emergency. The republic was militarized as a means to help victims and keep the peace. 13,200 members of three military forces were mobilized along with airplanes, helicopters, and boats.  The main focuses on the militarization was to safely transfer victims out of dangerous areas, meet the basic needs of the victims, collect and distribute aid, administer medical care, and remove corpses.