Resumen de Origen y trayectoria del Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra de funvisis, Venezuela: sus primeros 50 años (1972-2022)

André Singer, Franck A. Audemard, José Antonio Rodríguez A., Luz María Rodríguez D.

• español

  En el organigrama de FUNVISIS, creada como resultado benéfico del Terremoto de Caracas de 1967, el Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra (DCT), desempeña el rol de puente entre las unidades de Sismología e Ingeniería Sísmica, cuyo desarrollo ocurrirá en 4 fases. En la inaugural (1972-1978), tal misión se efectúa sin personal especializado. Entre 1979 y 1983, se implementa el DCT a través de la cooperación científica francesa gracias a la formación “en caliente” de sus geocientíficos en sismotectónica. El DCT se consolida entre 1984 y 1996, con la ejecución de proyectos de aplicación por parte de geólogos con estudios de postgrado alcanzados en esa cooperación. La fase de expansión internacional más productiva del DCT ocurre entre 1997 y 2022. La proyección de su pericia en la región conlleva al reconocimiento de Venezuela como un país de vanguardia en geología de terremotos. Los años “dorados” del DCT se cierran abruptamente con la irrupción en Venezuela de una hiperinflación cabalgante en 2017, rematada por la pandemia del COVID 19. Tal situación económica empuja a sus jóvenes profesionales a los caminos de la diáspora, circunstancia agravada por la jubilación de sus profesionales seniors en 2020;

  con un futuro incierto para el DCT.

• English

  In the organizational chart of the Venezuelan Foundation for Seismological Research (FUNVISIS), which was founded as a beneficial result of the damaging Caracas 1967 earthquake, the Earth Science Department (DCT) acts as a bridge between the Seismology and Seismic Engineering units at later stages of its development, which could be subdivided in 4 major phases. Between 1972 and 1979, objectives are met without proper specialized personnel. Up to 1983, the progressive implementation of this unit occurs through an international scientific cooperation with France, resting on the training on Seismotectonics of its young professionals for applied purposes. This initial experience gives rise in 1983 to an International across-disciplines Symposium on “Seismicity, Neotectonics and Geological Risk in Venezuela and the Caribbean”. The 1984-1996 stage corresponds to the consolidation of the DCT in the execution of applied projects by the initial staff of geologists, formed abroad at the Graduate level in the frame of the 2-way beneficial cooperation. The DCT showcases its progress through the publication of the Neotectonic Map of South America (Proyecto SISRA, 1985) and the Neotectonic Map of Venezuela (1993).

  The most productive internationally-casted DCT expansion and projection, which spans between 1997 and 2022, is initially naturally boosted by the study of two major devastating geological events: the Cariaco 1997 earthquake in Eastern Venezuela and the debris flows of December 1999 in the coastal State of Vargas, north of the capital Caracas. The diaspora of the DCT’s young professionals, as a consequence of the unbearable economic situation, in addition to the official retirement of its most experienced and elderly scientists, leads to the current decline of the DCT, closing its most brilliant period. The early projection of the DCT to the neighbouring countries of Colombia and Trinidad to evaluate the common master faults, belonging to the larger plate-boundary zone, is expanded by a prolific international projection of its expertise, which leads to the recognition of Venezuela as a leading country in the study of Geology of Earthquakes not only in the region. The DCT shining climax is abruptly truncated by the sudden emergence of a rocketed hyperinflation, worsened by the COVID 19 pandemics. The economic crisis that is suffocating the country for several years now has pushed its younger professionals to migrate abroad, which is further boosted by the forced retirement of its more experienced professionals by the current Ministry of affiliation, with a very uncertain future for the DCT.