Its not nice to remember natural disasters and its consequences. But here is my 2 cents.
In December 1999, Venezuela (north of South America, with shore in the Caribean sea) suffered one of its biggers natural disaster in its history: a flooding in the coastal area due to excees water running on the rivers down the mountains, because non-stop rain. The water-mud-rocks rivers cleared miles of towns and killed many, many people.
I was not on the disaster area, but I did participate with the volunteers the very next day both at the headquartes and down in the disaster zone. I will not go into details about it, but it was like a war zone. After the event, I also participate doing the census (accounting) of the people rescued, and its was one of the saddest moments of my life. So many people that lost their loved ones.
For many years, Venezuela was free of natural disasters of magnitude. An earthquake 40yrs ago was the last big event I heard about. Floods occurs sporadically, but small in magnitude, usually. A flood this magnitude caught every authority by surprise. And still, Venezuela dont have anough experience or equipment to work after a natural disaster. They still think that the country is "disaster free", as it once was. It used to be a paradise.
