Remedial works against debris flows after floods in the State of Vargas, Venezuela

The catastrophic torrential events occurred in the State of Vargas, on December 15(th) and 16(th), 1999, resulted in one of the most important disasters of the 20(th) century in Venezuela. The extraordinary high magnitude of such weather events caused vast areas to collapse with devastating debris flows in several watersheds. The scope of this work is to present the experience of Corpovargas (Corporacion para la Recuperacion y Desarrollo del Estado Vargas), in the years 2002 and 2003 in the State of Vargas and to provide useful guidance for other similar cases.