A preliminary overview by the USGS

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(Slide show consists of a series of 42 photographs, maps, satellite images, and a table of rainfall data. Photographs show landslides, flash-flood deposits, damaged roads, houses, apartment buildings, industrial facilities, marina)

Debris flow damage to apartment building in Caraballeda, Vargas state, Venezuela, January 19, 2000.

For more information contact:

• Matthew C. Larsen, U.S. Geological Survey, mclarsen@usgs.gov.
  

Related links:

• Center For Hazards and Risk Research at Columbia University
  
  
• Integrating Complexity of Social Systems in Natural Hazards Planning: An Example from Caracas,Venezuela
  
  
• University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology Education and Training (COMET)

Bibliography:

• Larsen, M.C., and Wieczorek, G.F., 2006, Geomorphic effects of large debris flows and flash floods, northern Venezuela, 1999: Tropical Geomorphology with Special Reference to South America, Latrubesse, Edgardo, ed., Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie Suppl. Vol. 145, pp. 147-175.
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., Wieczorek, G.F., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A., Torres-Sierra, H., 2002, Peligros Naturales en los Abanicos Aluviales: El Desastre Ocasionado por Flujos Detríticos e Inundaciones Repentinas en Venezuela: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, FS 103-01s, 4 p. (Online version)
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., V?squez Conde, M.T., and Clark, R.A., 2001, Flash-flood related hazards: landslides, with examples from the December, 1999 disaster in Venezuela in E. Gruntfest and J. Handmer, eds., Coping with Flash floods, Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 259-275.
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., Wieczorek, G.F., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A., Torres-Sierra, H., 2001, Venezuela debris-flow and flash-flood disaster of 1999 studied: EOS, Transactions: American Geophysical Union, v. 82, no. 47, p. 572-573.
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., Wieczorek, G.F., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A., Torres-Sierra, H., 2001,
  Natural Hazards on Alluvial Fans: the Venezuela debris-flow and flash-flood disaster: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet, FS 103-01, 4 p. (Online version)
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., Wieczorek, G. F., Eaton, L.S., and Torres-Sierra, H., 2001, The rainfall-triggered landslide and flash-flood disaster in northernVenezuela, December 1999: Proceedings of the Seventh Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference, March 25 through 29, 2001, Reno, NV, p. IV-9 to IV-16
  
  
• Larsen, M.C., Wieczorek, G. F., Eaton, L.S., and Torres-Sierra, H., 2001, Natural hazards on alluvial fans: the debris flow and flash flood disaster of December 1999, Vargas state, Venezuela: in W.F. Sylva (ed.), Proceedings of the Sixth Caribbean Islands Water Resources Congress, Mayag?ez, Puerto Rico, February 22 and 23, 2001, unpaginated CD
  
  
• Wieczorek, G.F., Larsen, M.C., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A. and Blair, J. L., 2002, Debris-flow and flooding deposits in coastal Venezuela associated with the storm of December 14-16, 1999: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Investigation Series Map I-2772. (Online version)
  
  
• Wieczorek, G.F., Larsen, M.C., Eaton, L.S., Morgan, B.A. and Blair, J.L., 2001, Debris-flow and flooding hazards caused by the December 1999 storm in coastal Venezuela, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 01-144, 40p., 3 tables, 2 appendices, 3 plates, 1 CD. (Online version)