Compilation and analysis of natural disasters reported in the department of Antioquia, excluding the municipalities of the Valle de Aburrá-Colombia, between 1920-1999

This work collects and analyzes the available information about the natural disasters reported in the department of Antioquia, except for the municipalities of the Aburrá Valley, between the years of 1920 and 1999, using the DesInventar software. 1,701 natural disasters were reported in the 115 municipalities corresponding to the work area. 45% corresponds to landslides, 17% to floods, 15% to torrential avenues, 7% to earthquakes; 16% corresponds to "other" disasters such as gales, storms, swells, frosts, hailstorms, droughts, soil liquefaction, urban and forest fires, mud volcanism, shoreline undermining and rock falls. The above produced 1,233 deaths, and affected 99,100 individuals and 1,418 families. The greatest amount of human losses was contributed by the landslides with 58%; torrential avenues with 22%; floods with 17%; the others with the 2% and the remaining 1% due to the earthquakes. With regard to housing, there were a total of 13,106 homes affected and 835 homes destroyed mainly by the earthquakes (48%); floods (31%) and landslides (12%). With respect to destroyed homes, the distribution was as follows: earthquakes with 37%, floods with 36% and landslides with 10% respectively, a remaining 5% due to torrential avenues. With this work it was possible to verify several important points, among which it is emphasized that the tendency of the frequency of natural disasters is increasing as well as the effects on people as well as on homes and infrastructure; Two of the main causes of natural disasters continue to be hydrometeorological phenomena such as rainfall and anthropic activities such as poor land management, deforestation, overgrazing, urban expansion without planning or land management, and so on. The economic losses were approximately 25,000 million Colombian pesos (at pesos of the year 2000), quite low compared to the large number of natural disasters (1,701) reported between 1,920 and 1,999

• Autores: Polanco, Camilo; Bedoya Sanmiguel, Geovany
• Fecha de publicación: 2005
• Institución: Universidad EAFIT
• Repositorio: Repositorio EAFIT
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repository.eafit.edu.co:10784/14578
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/10784/14578
• Palabra clave: Natural Disasters; Department Of Antioquia; Causes; Economic Losses; Desinventar Software; Environmental Geology; Desastres Naturales; Departamento De Antioquia; Causas; Pérdidas Económicas; Software Desinventar; Geología Ambiental
• License: Copyright (c) 2005 Camilo Polanco, Geovany Bedoya Sanmiguel