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Week 16 Hazard Assessment

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Throughout these weeks I have analyzed the different hazards that countries can be prone to and Venezuela is no exception. Though many of my weeks yielded little evidence of a major threat to Venezuela, I did come across a few hazards that should be of concern in Venezuela. There are many natural hazards in Venezuela but one stood out among the data and research: mudslides and floods. A very infamous example in Venezuela is Vargas, 1999. Britannica reports that the casualties from this mudslide were somewhere between 10,000 to 30,000 people. This natural catastrophe also cost the country 2 million dollars in damage (Relief Web). Britannica goes on to explain that the mudslides were a result of torrential rains battering the mountainous regions of Venezuela. All of the inundated soil and rocks cascaded down, destroying 60 miles of coastline, with Vargas not being the only damaged area. This is a very extreme case of this hazard but it really conveys the potential dangers facing Venezuel...
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Week 13

 Venezuelan coastal hazards The main focus for this weeks blog is the coastal hazard, erosion. Venezuela is a coastal country with its capital being located by the Caribbean Sea. A journal written in 1997 was about coastal hazards for Venezuela. In the abstract of the journal article it explains the situation for Venezuela and its coastline. The predicted damage was written to be about 350 million dollars from coastal erosion and a sea-water level rise of about one meter by 2100. The predicted amount of people being displaced from their homes also 56,000 to 62,000. The article also describes the inundation of the Orinoco Delta being the most costly part because of its low lying location. The land loss and inundation is most likely this costly because of the coastal oil infrastructure in Venezuela, oil being a big part of their economy.  All of these predictions are assuming the regular erosion patterns since 1991. These damages are assuming a "No Protection" response but the ...
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Week 10

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    🗲  Venezuela and it's Amazing Catatumbo Lightning 🗲     Venezuela is home to one of the most interesting lightning storms. Located in Lake Maracaibo the lightning storm is practically continuous. I went through different articles and found that since it is not really a hazard and more of a natural wonder there are no mitigation efforts. I can, however include the interesting facts about this "everlasting lightning storm" in Venezuela.  Causes  First it's causes and why this storm is able to happen for so long. A video posted by Atlas Obscura gives a good explanation. In the video they say "the lake's unique shape forces warm air from the Caribbean up nearby mountains." Since the warm air front from the Caribbean clashes with the cold air found high up in the mountains, it makes nearly perfect conditions for lightning storms. The difference in temperature leads to those negative charges transferring, through energy and light, to the more positive...
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Week 8

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  Venezuela Mass Wasting      There were multiple instances of mass wasting in Venezuela so I know it is not a rare hazard. One debris flow mudslide in Las Tejerìas left a death toll of 34 and over 1,000 homes affected by damage or complete destruction (NPR). Hurricane Julia affected many Central American countries and was also the cause of this mudslide because of it's torrential rain. Another mudslide was in Vargas in December 1999. The countries most devastating debris flow mudslide on an alluvial fan. There was mass property damage and a death toll of 19,000 people (Larsen et. al).  The instances of these debris flows are evidence that Venezuela definitely has a mass wasting risk. There are broad prevention and mitigation strategies to use for these landslides. Hazard mapping is really helpful when it comes to identifying areas at risk. Rescue teams in place avoid building in risk areas and insurance for affected homes. All of these techniques are listed on ...
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Week 5 Volcanoes

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 Volcanoes in Venezuela  There are no active volcanoes in Venezuela. The only volcano that is the most recognized is the Volcán de Sanaré. The neighboring countries are more abundant in volcanoes like Ecuador and Colombia. Ecuador has many volcanoes ranging from the stratovolcano Cotopaxi to a dacite lake volcano named Quilotoa. Most volcanoes in Ecuador are stratovolcanoes. Through deep research it seems that Venezuela does not need to mitigate any volcanoes and there is nothing to be worried about when it comes to eruptions. Even though Venezuela does not have preparation strategies I can list some of the things neighboring countries do to mitigate volcanic disaster. Ready.gov has an in depth list of things to do before, during and after a volcanic eruption. Some of the things they list are: Have a shelter in place plan if your biggest risk is ash Ask local emergency management for evacuation and shelter plans, and for potential means of protection from ash During the erupti...
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Week 3 Andrew Shaver

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  Earthquakes in Venezuela Being located by where the South American Plate and the Caribbean plate meet, Venezuela is prone to earthquakes. The northern part of Venezuela by Caracas is the most prone region in the country. According to an earthquake list that is always updating, earthquakes with magnitude 4.2-5.0 happen all the time, seeing that the last one was 20 hours from when this was written (Earthquakelist.org). All of these earthquakes keep with the trend of it being in Caracas. The rest of Venezuela is quite calm since it is farther out from the transform boundary. Earthquake list also informs that there are on average a total of 95 earthquakes annually. There are different ways to prepare for or mitigate an earthquake in Venezuela. The Science Direct article on the Seismic Microzoning Project states that the project is a "probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard at rock sites; identification of soil and basin site effects; definition of microzones of similar seismic re...
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Andrew Shaver

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Venezuelan Tectonics and Seismicity      Venezuela is located in the South American plate. Although a collision of tectonic plates does not run through Venezuela, it is near the "complex deformation zone"near the Caribbean and South American Plates (Mazuera et. al). The line indicating a collision of plates runs fairly along the east coast of South America. Looking at the map of world seismicity, I can see that Venezuela is affected majorly on the northwestern coast. Which could be the result of an earthquake in Caracas in 1967 with a magnitude of 6.6 and another recorded earthquake in 2018 in Carupano with a magnitude of 7.3. The location of Venezuela makes it earthquake prone especially in places like Caracas since it is located almost directly next to the transform boundary of Caribbean and South American tectonic plates. Also with being located in the Boconó fault that runs through the Mérida Andes (Sylvester). Compared to earthquakes, there is not much volcanic activ...
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