page_title: Vargas tragedy
section_title: Neotectonics
hierarchical_section_title: Vargas tragedy / Background / Geology / Neotectonics
caption_attribution_description: English: (taken verbatim from USGS caption): Debris-flow deposit, 2.9 m-thick, incised by subsequent flooding of channel in Río Camurí Chiquito. Fine-grained matrix supports coarse particles.
context_page_description: The Vargas tragedy was a natural disaster that occurred in Vargas State, Venezuela on 14–16 December 1999, when torrential rains caused flash floods and debris flows that killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed thousands of homes, and led to the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure. According to relief workers, the neighborhood of Los Corales was buried under 3 metres of mud and a high percentage of homes were simply swept into the ocean. Entire towns including Cerro Grande and Carmen de Uria completely disappeared. As much as 10% of the population of Vargas died during the event.
context_section_description: Terraces containing previous debris flow deposits are now perched 10–20 meters (33–66 ft) above the modern stream channels. Erosion from the 1999 flood exposed bedrock benches 50 centimeters (20 in) to 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) above the present channel. These abandoned high surfaces suggest recent and continuing tectonic uplift of the Venezuelan coast and corresponding river channel incision. In spite of the fact that most onshore faults active in this region during the Quaternary are mapped as right-lateral strike-slip, it is possible that there is a vertical component of offset in offshore faults.
caption: A 2.9-meter (9 ft 6 in) thick debris flow deposit from December 1999 is exposed by river incision during late-stage floods.
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