Moving Mountains
tierra movida
In the week of December 9th, 1999, the state of Vargas, Venezuela was devastated by more than 50 rapid-flow landslides.
Over the course of three days, the region received more rain than would usually fall on an annual basis. This was the tail end of Hurricane Lenny that had torn through the northeastern Caribbean that November.
The rainfall caused some eight million cubic meters of detritus to slide from the north-facing peaks of the Ávila mountain. Tonnes of mud and debris was deposited on the urban settlements at its feet, burying homes that clustered in the valley and permanently changing the shape of the coastline. These debris flows were followed by flash floods that burst from tributaries and tore through riverbanks.
The landslides and floods destroyed dozens of high-rise seaside apartment blocks, many second homes to wealthy Venezuelans. But their effects were felt most acutely in the the informal settlements that were built on slopes where land was cheap and grounds unstable.
The death toll remains unclear. Official estimates fluctuate between 337 to 30,000. The real figure most likely sits at around 2,000.
The disaster came less than a year into the revolutionary political administration led by Hugo Chávez. In that week of torrential rainfall, the nation voted in a referendum to amend the 1961 constitution, engendering a “participatory democracy” that would replace the “representative democracy” of preceding administrations.
Despite the inclement weather, on December 15th, these proposals were approved by over seventy per cent of Venezuelan voters, gaining a resounding victory in Vargas. In the medium term, the disaster zone become as a testing ground for the flagship social initiatives in health, housing, food, and education that were overseen by the Chávez government.
Some of the homes and buildings that had been destroyed were rebuilt on the same, or nearby, locations. Others that remained partially intact were repurposed or claimed by new occupants.
The state oversaw the construction of numerous road and housing projects in the area, although many have been left unfinished.
The landslides changed the shape of the coastline in its vertical and horizontal dimensions. Santiago Acosta and Efraín Vivas’ photobook,...
Read more about the Coastline »
Carmen de Uria was a small settlement that was destroyed almost in its entirety. It is now the site of...
Read more about the Carmen de Uria »
The landslides left a lasting mark on the cityscape as a reminder that places are made by people and nature...
Read more about the Rock Gardens and Raised Beds »
On the top right is an example of low-rise state-funded housing that is used for living purposes. This contrasts with...
Read more about the State Projects 2 »
Los Corales is one of the most densely-populated settlements along the coast, and so was gravely affected by the landslides....
Read more about the Los Corales »
The Chávez administration sought to address urgent demands in housing with the rapid construction of low-cost homes that would be...
Read more about the State Projects 1 »
After the disaster, private investors took advantage of cheap land prices and began the construction of towering high-rise buildings in...
Read more about the Camuri Chico »
Many Macuto residents left the region in the aftermath of the disaster. Hundreds were rehoused by the state in the...
Read more about the Return and Reconstruction »
Macuto is a seaside resort that gained popularity with the young and the wealthy in the 1920s. Although the landslides...
Read more about the Macuto »
El Castillete was the home and workplace of Armando Reverón, the Venezuelan painter and sculptor who moved from Caracas to...
Read more about the El Castillete »
Some two years after the disaster, the state constructed a series of flood defences such as these along the coast....
Read more about the Flood Defences »
Further up the mountain, houses were swept away, almost in their entirety, by the floods. Part of their remains are...
Read more about the La Veguita »
