Attachments
A. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the Disaster
During 2022, the rainy season in Venezuela was atypical due to the presence of the La Niña phenomenon, which lasted three consecutive winters in the Northern Hemisphere. The constant rains from April to November caused over-saturation of soils and an increase in river and lake beds.
During April, authorities reported that the rains affected almost the entire national territory, in the states of Amazonas, Aragua, Anzoátegui, Barinas, Bolívar, Carabobo, Delta Amacuro, Distrito Capital, Falcón, Guárico, La Guaira, Lara, Mérida, Miranda, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa, Sucre, Táchira, Trujillo, Yaracuy and Zulia, causing floods and landslides that resulted in loss of human lives, damage to public infrastructure, hospitals, and lifelines (electricity, water, roads), loss of livelihoods (agriculture, fishing, commerce), damage or destruction of homes and loss of household goods. At the end of the month, the states of Merida, Zulia and the Capital District were declared in emergency by the national government.
In May 2022, rains caused the level of Lake Maracaibo and the Chama and Catatumbo rivers to rise in the state of Zulia, causing the rupture of a dam located in the southern area of Lake Maracaibo and affecting an estimated 56,778 people, 6,159 houses and the loss of 150,000 hectares of crops. In the state of Táchira, heavy rainfall generated flash floods in rivers and streams.
The passage of tropical storm N°6 during the month of June aggravated the situation with damage to public infrastructure and housing. The main state affected was Merida, where 30,000 people suffered damages in their communities, followed by the State of Zulia, where the Governor declared a state of alert because of flooding caused by the El Limón River affecting the communities of Potrerito, Macutao, El Rabito, Alta Guajira, La Candelaria and Escondido.
In the State of Bolivar, during the month of October, the Caroni and Orinoco rivers increased their flow, causing severe flooding from Santa Elena de Uairén to El Callao. In Barinas State, rainfall caused the level of the Socopó river to rise, causing flooding in most of the capital city and surrounding areas, causing damage to public infrastructure, loss of houses and household goods. According to Civil Protection, 465 families were affected in this state.
In November, the El Limón river again caused flooding in the municipality of La Guajira, Zulia State, affecting 9,600 families in the communities of Elías Sánchez Rubio, Sinamaica, as well as 201 families affected in the sectors Viviendas de Santa Cruz, La Dulcera, Bicentenario, Guareira, Chorro 1 and 2. In the State of Bolivar, the Ure river overflowed, affecting 1,800 people in the parish of Pozo Verde in the municipality of Caroni, causing the loss of their homes and all their belongings. In the southern part of the State of Bolivar, the rains caused rural roads to be cut, causing farmers to be unable to transport their products to markets in other cities and resulting in the loss of their financial capital.