Recent Earthquake Reveals Problems with Venezuela’s Preparedness and Response, Scientists Say

When Antonio Machado Allison helped with the earthquake relief efforts in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas in 1967, he felt confident in the way the government mobilized its groups. Upon arrival, Allison described immediately seeing dozens of government agencies on the ground organizing rescue and rescue services, conducting basic and emergency care as well as coordinating volunteers and distributing items such as food and vaccines.

However, almost 60 years later, he was disappointed by what he saw after two earthquakes rocked the nation on June 24.

“One of the worst feelings a person can have is the frustration and seeing the destruction of the land that is happening in nature but the destruction has been worse,” Allison said in Spanish. “We are a country that is used to these natural events, but the government is not doing enough to ensure the strength and resilience that the country should have.”

Allison, the first responder of the Venezuelan Red Cross Relief Brigade and an environmental scientist connected to the Wesleyan University, said that the main difference for him, between the response after the recent earthquake was the reliance on government programs and the infrastructure that the country has for these earthquake events, even researchers and the data available to take appropriate safety measures.

Two earthquakes, recorded at 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude, struck the northern coast of Venezuela on June 24, causing extensive damage near the cities of La Guaira and Caracas. In comparison, the 1967 earthquake that hit the same cities the hardest was recorded at 6.5 magnitude. As of July 6, the death toll has reached 3,535, 16,740 people have been injured and 17,854 have been left homeless, according to the country’s official statistics.

Geologists said that although the earthquake was strong, it was to be expected. They say the country was overdue for an earthquake as movement along the fault lines in Venezuela has a cycle of about 50 to 60 years between major events.

The earthquake occurred less than a minute apart and affected more than 200 kilometers from the east of San Felipe to Guatire, according to the Fundacion Venezolana de Investigaciones Sismologicas (FUNVISIS) of Venezuela and the US Geological Survey (USGS). FUNVISIS, in collaboration with the USGS, has released new preliminary reports, data and images every day since the event.

The last significant natural disaster La Guaira experienced was in 1999, when mudslides caused the deaths of about 19,000 people and thousands of buildings, according to the USGS. Allison said that if seismic codes had not been followed during the reconstruction of the area, it may have contributed to the collapse of buildings after the recent earthquake. Some engineers and local scientists noted that the country has all the policies – such as their COVENIN1756 code, which was implemented in 2019, engineers looking for a high-quality, modern framework – in place to ensure that seismic codes are met, but it is unclear whether they are being implemented or not.

Carlos Giraldo, geologist and seismologist, worked at FUNVISIS for 8 years before moving to Spain. He grew up and lived in La Guaira for 20 years, where he studied the earthquake-prone Boconó and San Sebastián faults. He said that along with these two active faults, Venezuela is full of different soil conditions that could explain why some cities have suffered worse.

For example, Caracas, located in a valley, has soft rock and sediment compared to the mountainous areas where the rocks are hard. As a result, one must consider how much the ground may move and how that may increase the shaking when an earthquake occurs. If the soil moves at a speed close to 0.4 meters per second squared, it can affect the seismic resistance of the structure. Geoscientists like Giraldo develop maps of earthquake zones to ensure that buildings built in vulnerable areas are placed in the safest locations and builders take the necessary precautions to withstand earthquakes. According to him, the buildings of the country and the towns are suffering due to the poor tracking of these maps of the earthquake zones.

“We need to build good infrastructure and be prepared for emergencies, which is not the case in Venezuela,” Giraldo said. “Venezuela was not ready for an emergency like this.”

Although seismologists won’t know the exact locations of these scenes for another week, Giraldo said the spectrum of destruction from east to west makes these scenes meaningless. With earthquakes predicted farther east than where the impact was most felt, Juan Francisco Arminio, a Venezuelan geologist based in Colombia, said he and his colleagues believe there could have been some unaccounted for earthquakes in the north.

Arminio said he was shocked by the severity of the damage that occurred in La Guaira and other towns. He said it would be difficult to predict the severity of future earthquakes or to understand why certain cities are more affected than others in the earthquake’s path, but he offered some recommendations that could improve conditions.

He believes that the country should not have stopped renewing and maintaining proper disaster relief policies. Arminio noted that after the government invested in earthquake studies and disaster relief programs after the last major earthquake in 1967, the latest quake should not have “taken the country by surprise like it did last time.” The government should have made an effort to maintain the relief and rescue programs it has created as “the engine that drives forward any planning and prevention efforts,” he said.

Reports from residents indicate that government officials, paramedics and the military were not dispatched until nearly two days after the June earthquake. Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, declined to comment at a press conference on July 2, saying “we took immediate action.”

Apart from maintaining and investing in proper protection and rescue systems, Arminio said the government should be careful where buildings are built. He recommended that the country have an authority that maintains zoning and safety in all regions. Allison agreed, saying the country has the money and manpower to do it, but there needs to be a concerted effort.

“The elephant in the room is government inefficiency,” Arminio said.

Giraldo and Arminio both say that seismologists in Venezuela need not only more data but also more support from their government to be able to produce more accurate earthquake maps. With that knowledge, they can prevent future events from being as catastrophic as the June 24 earthquake, even if they cannot predict how bad other earthquakes might be.

While many private rescue and aid organizations inside and outside of Venezuela are contributing heavily to rescue efforts and continue to do so, Arminio said he saw a lack of organization that he thought was needed to mount a full response.

Although they were informal, it was the response of citizens that showed experts, especially Allison—despite feeling disheartened by the government’s response to the disasters—that the people of Venezuela were “still in full unity.”

In the morning days following the disaster, residents were seen pulling neighbors and relatives out of the rubble and working with foreign teams sent to the country to find missing people. Displaced and displaced Venezuelan communities in the United States have also organized collection centers to send donations to La Guaira, collecting everything from batteries and face masks to sanitary pads and new clothes.

“They’re resilient and they’re able to organize and be there when the state isn’t,” Allison said. “However, we cannot hide the government’s responsibility at this time; the government must do something because that is its duty. If citizens take these jobs, something is wrong. We must not get used to this.”