Aerial view of Los Corales sector of Caraballeda, Venezuela after the heavy rainfall in October, 1999. Debris flows and sediment-laden flash floods destroyed or damaged most structures on this alluvial fan. Caraballeda is situated just north of Caracas. Photo credit: M.C. Larsen, U.S. Geological Survey

Living near the seismically active intersection of two tectonic plates, and nestled against the steep slopes of young mountain ranges, the population of Caracas, Venezuela and surrounding regions is at great risk from severe earthquake, landslide, and flooding hazards. Recently published in the American Geophysical Union's journal EOS is an analysis of how to build disaster resilience into this Venezuelan capital region. The authors of the paper, Kevin Vranes and Kristina Czuchlewski, are Columbia University students participating in a unique academic program that combines research in natural hazards with urban planning and policy studies.

Major earthquakes have destroyed Caracas three times in the last 400 years, and heavy rainfall has triggered landslides, mudflows, and debris flows as recently as December 1999, killing tens of thousands of people. The report found that half the population of Caracas lives in unplanned, unzoned, and unofficial squatter settlements built of non-reinforced masonry.

Immediate disaster-avoidance recommendations in the report include building disaster resilience into the utility infrastructure (water, sewage, and power) and the highway system, both within and connecting the city to its state of Vargas. Also needed is strengthening of the emergency response system (medical, police and fire). Intermediate goals include establishing constitutional and legal legitimacy for disaster management, fostering international exchange between scientists, professionals and technicians, and starting public outreach programs in schools and communities. Long-term recommendations include the realization of open spaces and resilient structures, and the development of a clearly organized hazards and disaster management system that incorporates government officials, the military, the scientific community, non-governmental organizations, and the public. (Click here to go to full report.)

21st Century Cities Project Leads Students to Accra, Ghana: A girl carries home water she has just purchased at a standpipe in Accra, Ghana. This photo was taken by first year Urban Planning grad student Molly Price, one of twelve students who spent a week in Ghana observing growth and planning issues with professors Sig Grava and Klaus Jacob as part of this semester’s Urban Studio. The group surveyed infrastructure such as transportation, waste management and housing, and disaster risks such as recurrent flooding. Jacob voiced concern about whether the city would be able to incorporate the type of information the team will generate. “The city must address infrastructure, particularly fluid waste disposal,” said Jacob, “in order to get on top of other issues like health.” Accra is the third city to be the focus of an urban studio, after Caracas, Venezuela and Istanbul, Turkey. Photo credit: Molly Price

Says Elliott Sclar, Director of Columbia's Urban Planning Program, "This studio is an important teaching experiment at Columbia, and represents the first significant integration of the natural hazard expertise at Lamont into the urban planning program." Says Art Lerner-Lam, Director of the Center for Hazards and Risk Research, "By combining talents from planning, geosciences, public policy, and engineering, the students are able to work as a team to answer real-world problems in urban planning in cities where natural hazards present a significant risk." This unique cross-disciplinary studio was suggested by Ana Puszkin-Chevlin, a program coordinator in Urban Planning. Klaus Jacob, an engineering seismologist at Lamont famous for his work in earthquake hazard mitigation, and Sigurd Grava, a professor of urban planning with a world-wide reputation in transportation planning and infrastructure, are the lead faculty for the studio.

Vranes and Czuchlewski, the authors of the EOS paper, spent seven days in Caracas with the rest of their team researching previous disaster areas and meeting with officials and university researchers.

Vranes said that while the first few days on the ground in Caracas were spent collecting data from contacts they had at the various universities, the last few days were spent doing footwork to fill in the blanks. "One of the things our team lacked was a detailed map of the city," he said. For much of the data needed, they had to start from scratch. "We were only able to get an idea of the emergency infrastructure in Caracas by compiling a list of fire and police stations that we found in the phone book," Vranes said.

Czuchlewski is doing radar research at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. "This work motivated my thesis project on developing rapid disaster response strategies using radar remote sensing," said Czuchlewski. "I am applying this methodology to landslide disasters in Taiwan, similar to those triggered by heavy rains in Venezuela."

Since the Caracas research, the spring urban planning international studio has continued to develop innovative interdisciplinary studies for major urban areas exposed to natural hazards. In 2002, Jacob and Grava brought the studio to Istanbul, where a significant earthquake risk has been established. The 2003 studio is currently examining flooding and public health issues in Accra, Ghana, in coordination with the 21st Century Cities Project.