Weather

Citation

(2001), "Weather", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310dac.003

Weather

Weather

1 October 2000 – India and Bangladesh

There was cause for hope in parts of eastern India as a swollen river started receding. Water is falling in most areas, but in some places it is still rising, said Asim Dasgupta, the state's finance minister. He said that he expected the situation to ease considerably in the next three days. Weather department officials said that river waters were expected to recede, as high tides in coastal districts abated today. More than 17 million people in all have been affected by the monsoon rains and flooding in the Ganges and 56 other rivers. In Calcutta, capital of West Bengal state, meteorological officials said that the level of the Hooghly River was returning to normal after inundating many parts of the region. Officials and relief workers said that decaying cattle carcasses and poor sanitary conditions in flood-hit villages posed a serious health hazard and threatened to prolong the crisis. P.S. Ingty, the top bureaucrat at West Bengal's relief ministry, estimated that 2.8 billion rupees ($65 million) are needed to repair damaged houses. The loss to standing crops is estimated at 30 billion rupees ($714 million).

4 October 2000 – The official death toll from floods in the Indian state of West Bengal has risen above the 1,000 mark, as flood waters recede revealing dead bodies. West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu said that 400 bodies had been recovered in the last four days alone and another 100 people were still missing. The situation in the 24-Parganas district east of Calcutta was especially difficult, with some areas still under three metres of water.

5 October 2000 – More than 20 million flood victims remain homeless in India and Bangladesh. The deluge that began in mid-September has claimed more than 1,000 lives in India and neighboring Bangladesh, even as the water is slowly receding. Across the region, thousands of people remained cut off from help. In southwest Bangladesh, nearly 40,000 villagers fled their homes, as swirling flood water demolished a protective wall of sandbags and breached a mud embankment, officials said. At least eight people, including three children, were swept away and dozens of others reported missing in the Sathkira district, bordering India. At least 30 villages were under eight to 10ft of water, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency reported. In Bangladesh, thousands remain stranded on rooftops, with unsafe water to drink and inadequate supplies of food. Relief camps in Bangladesh are overcrowded and rescue efforts, including the delivery of medicine, are falling short. A seven-mile stretch of the Calcutta-Dhaka highway, on the Indian side, was under water, halting bus services between the two countries and stranding nearly 10,000 Bangladeshi visitors to India. Thousands have set up plastic tents along the highway, where many cook their own food.

22 October 2000 – Gushing water from across the border today submerged five more villages in Shovanoli union of Assasuni Upazila, deteriorating the flood situation in the area. Satkhira-Kaliganj road remained closed since Thursday night (19 October), as flood water washed away 200-250ft of the road. Water is still entering the district through the Ichhamati and Sonai rivers, as the cross-dam at Khoitola in India collapsed. The situation in the district improved with a slight recession inn the floodwaters. The flood has affected some 534,035 people, with 501,251 taking shelter in 430 flood shelters. Officials confirmed six deaths in flood related cases; but unofficial sources claimed the number as 16. The flood has completely damaged standing crops on 76,481 acres, 308 educational institutions, 91 mosques, 23 shrines, 280 bridges and culverts, 90,586 dwelling houses, 73.50km cross-dam, 172.91km pukka roads and 2,161.62km kutcha roads of the district. The road link with Bomra land port in Satkhira remained closed, suspending cross-border trade.

24 October 2000 – Ebbing flood waters were leaving scenes of utter devastation in south-western Bangladesh. Officials, relief operators and witnesses said yesterday that there were virtually no homes left in many remote villages, no crops in the fields, and no cattle or poultry except for ducks. The floods have killed more than 130 people and forced more than two million from their homes, according to official estimates. But bodies were emerging as water levels fell and many relief workers said that they believed that the death toll was higher. The worst-hit, south-west of Bangladesh, is usually a dry area. It produces a huge quantity of vegetables, beans, potatoes and shrimps, the country's third biggest export. Farmers returning to their villages will face a desperate situation until they can harvest new crops in three or four months' time, officials said. Seeds, kept in stores, have also been washed away. Rice and fruit plants have been totally destroyed. Agriculture ministry officials said that the government is planning to distribute seed, especially rice seed, as soon as the waters have fallen. Bangladeshi officials said that the falling water levels were revealing piles of bodies trapped on the Indian side of a border fence and they believed that the real death toll in Bangladesh was higher than the official figure of 130. Despite the ebbing water in most districts, nearly a million people were still in flood shelters and many people were still cut off in flooded areas.

29 October 2000 – At least 17 people were killed, and several thousand injured as a cyclonic storm with a maximum wind speed of 93kph lashed Bangladesh, causing more than 10in. of rainfall at places in 36 hours and left a trail of devastation. The severe deep depression over the bay turned into a land depression, crossed the Khulna coast in the morning, charted a north-easterly track across the Jessore, Faridpur, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Sylhet regions, damaged dwellings, caused country-wide power disruption, uprooted trees, and caused colossal damage to standing crops. Life all over the country was paralysed. The sufferings of the flood-affected people in the Satkhira and Jessore districts increased manifold as their make-shift dwellings were swept away and the level of water increased by about a foot. It was the first depression to visit Bangladesh this year. The low-lying areas of the coastal districts and their adjoining islets experienced a 2-4ft tidal surge. One trawler and one fishing boat capsized and at least 100 mechanised fishing boats and trawlers were missing, the reports said. Several hundred fishermen were missing. By 22.00, local time, last night the depression was battering Sylhet with a maximum wind speed of 93kph and with downpour, the Met Office said. It was the second major storm to form over the bay during the last fortnight.

30 October 2000 – Rescuers recovered 16 more bodies from debris of collapsed homes, raising the death toll in the weekend rainstorms to 28, the government said today. At least 200 people were injured and more than 100 fishermen missing after strong winds and heavy rains lashed the Bangladesh coast on Saturday (28 October) officials said.

2 October 2000 – Afghanistan and Pakistan

The United Nations says that 137 people have died in Afghanistan from the effects of the severe drought currently affecting the country. A UN report said that an outbreak of cholera in parts of the north had killed 110, while 27 – mainly children – had died of hunger in the opposition-held enclave of Dara-i-Souf in central Afghanistan.

3 October 2000 – South East Asia

Fresh torrential rains have piled on the misery for hundreds of thousands of people in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, where the worst floods in decades have now killed at least 230, most of them children, officials said today. While water levels in upstream Delta provinces bordering Cambodia are receding gradually, rains over the past two days have swollen the waters further downstream. Levels in Kien Giang and Tien Giang provinces would continue rising for at least another week, officials there said. "The only road to transport relief to our province will soon be cut," a member of the Kien Giang People's Committee said. "We will have to use boats and helicopters." Officials said that water levels had risen about 4cm a day in Kien Giang and Tien Giang but were retreating slightly in upstream An Giang and Long An, two of the worst-hit provinces. The floods have turned huge areas of the low-lying Delta into inland seas with waters up to 5m deep. The International Red Cross estimates that 75,000 families, or more than 375,000 people, have had to be evacuated from their homes since the worst of the floods struck. Authorities in Vinh Long and Dong Thap provinces said that they planned to shift more people from their homes in coming days due to the threat of landslides. Provincial authorities have been setting up temporary refugee camps to minimise casualties. Most evacuees have lived for weeks in cramped, dirty conditions atop crumbling earth dykes or raised roadways. Relief agencies said that it could be ten weeks before they could return home. Eight of 12 Delta provinces have been hit by floods and the Red Cross estimates that 700,000 houses have been flooded, affecting 3.5 million people. Today's state-run Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said that among those forced to flee were hundreds of Cambodians, who crossed the border after their homes were inundated.

3 October 2000 – Vietnam's most severe flooding in decades has spread to Ho Chi Minh City, as the nation-wide death toll rose to 241. A further 17 deaths have been reported in Vietnam, raising the national toll to 241. About 750,000 homes have been flooded, and damage is estimated at 2.55 trillion dong ($182 million).

4 October 2000 – With flood deaths in Vietnam rising relentlessly, the International Red Cross said today that it plans emergency rice supplies for hundreds of thousands of victims, while the Royal Australian Air Force will airlift blankets. Flood deaths over the past month hit 258 today, provincial officials said.

5 October 2000 – The death toll rose to 280 today in prolonged floods in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and the state media warned of new hazards, cholera and crocodiles swimming down-river from Cambodia. Local officials also warned that high sea tides next week would worsen the misery caused by the worst floods in decades, by raising water levels in downstream provinces. The International Red Cross estimates that four million people have been affected in eight Delta provinces. It says that up to 35,000 families, or some 175,000 people, have had to be evacuated from homes in the Delta since the worst of the floods early this month and 150,000 more are critically in need of assistance. Thursday's Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Doan Hong, director of the health department of Dong Thap province, as saying that there had been outbreaks of cholera in Laos and neighbouring Cambodia and the disease was spreading down the swollen Mekong River towards Vietnam. Tuoi Tre said that a number of crocodiles had been seen in the Hau River and were thought to have migrated from Cambodia. Flood waters have receded steadily in the upstream Delta in the past week, but it is likely to be late November before they subside fully. Officials said that torrential rains and strong winds in the past few days had damaged dozens of houses in Tien Giang province, where more than 11,800 families, or about 60,000 people, are in need of emergency relief. About $2 million of international relief have been pledged and a UN team is touring the Delta to assess further needs. Domestic and international relief agencies have been distributing rice supplies, medicines and drinking water and the Royal Australian Air Force plans to airlift blankets on Sunday (8 October).

5 October 2000 – Vietnam

A landslide triggered by flash flooding buried an entire commune and surging river currents destroyed a bridge in northern Vietnam, claiming more than 50 lives, state-run Vietnam Television reported yesterday. The landslide killed 40 people and injured 17 others on Tuesday night (3 October) in the remote district of Sin Ho in Lai Chau province, Vietnam Television reported. About 90 per cent of the homes in the commune of 397 people were completely buried by mud and rocks, the report said. officials had so far recovered only ten bodies from the landslide and were continuing their search. The 40 people who were killed were all members of five families. The area, which borders Laos, is about 370 miles north-west of Hanoi. Authorities in the provincial capital, Dien Bien Phu, did not receive word of the accident until a telephone company messenger alerted them a day later. In a separate incident in another northern province, Bac Kan, strong river currents fuelled by heavy rains swept away the structural supports from a suspension bridge early Wednesday morning, the television network reported. More than 20 people were swept into the raging Cau River near Bac Kan town, it said. Five people were rescued and 11 bodies recovered. Ten other people were still missing, authorities said.

26 October 2000 – Algeria

Storms and floods have ravaged western Algeria over the past several days, leaving at least 28 people dead. The worst-hit area was Naama, 340 miles south-west of Algiers, where at least 17 people died. Residents of the rural area climbed on to roofs and into trees to escape rising muddy floodwaters. The floods badly damaged crops, carried away cattle and cut off roads in the largely agricultural region.

20 October 2000 – France, Italy and Switzerland

Thousands of rescue workers and volunteers worked to reinforce sections of Italy's swollen River Po today to prevent its banks bursting amid flooding that has killed 25 people in the country. Civil protection workers dumped hundreds of tons of soil and sandbags against the banks of the river south of Mantua, 70 miles south-east of Milan, and near Ferrara and Veneto, where the Po flows into the Adriatic Sea. Five days of severe flooding in the northwest, where the government has declared a state of emergency, have left 25 people dead, four missing and 22,000 homeless or displaced. The waters, which gushed in torrents down the southern Alps, submerging villages and wiping out roads, railroads, telephone lines and electricity, are now flowing east towards the sea along arteries like the Po, Italy's longest river. Nearly 1,500 technicians have spent the past four days working to restore power lines and telephone services to about 30,000 people in mountainous areas north of Turin. The weather has improved throughout the northern region, but at least a third of the area remains affected by the floodwaters and there is still the threat that raging rivers could wash away road and rail bridges or burst their banks. Around Mantua, some 400 people had seen their homes destroyed, officials said. When the Po burst its banks near the town yesterday, floods covered an area of 1,730 acres, in some places 25ft deep, within 90 minutes, and 100 families were forced to flee their homes. Civil protection agency officials said today that the Po remained 24ft above its normal levels but was lower than yesterday when the river was reported to be 30ft above normal. The president of the Veneto today asked for his region to be added to the five already under a state of emergency. Around Mantua, police have closed road and railroad bridges groaning under the pressure of the Po's currents. Water rose almost to the level of some bridge crossings before it began to ease this morning. Trains connecting Bologna to Venice were rerouted so that workers could raise the railroad bridge over the Po just outside Ferrara for fear that it might collapse. The deluge came after four days of rain that collected in Alpine lakes before they could take the strain no longer and overflowed, submerging the entire north-west region. The flooding destroyed maize, rice and soybean crops, sending prices higher. Farmers said that the high water would make it impossible to complete autumn planting of wheat and barley. Early estimates have put the total damage at $2.6 billion in the Lombardy region alone, which has not been as badly affected as the Alpine Valle d'Aosta or Piedmont. Prime Minister Giuliano Amato's Cabinet earlier this week made available the equivalent of $65 million to help the regions cope with the clean-up.

22 October 2000 – Four bodies were pulled from the mud in Italy's Valle d'Aosta region, while in the Swiss village of Gondo, in the Alps above the Italian border, rescuers uncovered two bodies. Seventeen people were still missing. About 500 people were evacuated in the countryside around the ancient city of Mantua, where floodwaters are expected to peak later in the day. In the Lombardy town of Pavia on Tuesday (17 October), Ticino waters lapped at the third floors of evacuated buildings. Authorities in Italy and Switzerland said that overall damage would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

22 October 2000 – In Switzerland, a search team found another body, raising the overall death toll in the two countries to 37. The state of emergency will end tomorrow and resources will be concentrated to rebuild the damage, Enzo Bianco, Italy's minister for civil defence, said today. The water level of the Po was reported to be dropping by about two inches an hour. Damage to roads, bridges and tunnels has snarled traffic in much of the affected region. Authorities said today that the main highway between Turin and Milan would remain closed for at least three more days. A bridge over the Po in Piacenza was closed because of flood damage and, in the Valle d'Aosta, roads to the ski resort of Cervino were washed out. The Simplon railway tunnel between Italy and Switzerland, closed because of the danger of landslides, was reopened today. In Switzerland, several hundred people from the village of Baltschieder were allowed to go home.

31 October 2000 – Indonesia

Rain-triggered landslides killed at least 43 people and buried hundreds of houses on Indonesia's main island of Java, officials said today. At least 30 people were buried alive in seven landslides in the region early yesterday, said Gatot Arif, government spokesman in the town of Cilacap. At least 20 houses were destroyed. Arif said that he feared that the death toll could rise. In the neighbouring district of Banyumas, about 250 miles south-east of Jakarta, police said that six people were buried alive in landslides yesterday. And on Sunday (29 October), seven people were killed in another landslide in the nearby district of Tasikmalaya. Afir said that villagers were searching through tons of mud and fallen debris themselves and police and soldiers were on their way to the region to help. In addition to the landslides, incessant rains since Sunday have also caused floods in two other districts, damaging hundreds of houses and leaving at least 4,000 homeless.

29 October 2000 – the Philippines

Tropical storm "Xangsane" pounded the main northern Philippine island of Luzon yesterday after battering the country's eastern provinces. At least nine people have died nationwide and 19 fishermen were missing, officials said. More than 200 people were injured, many by collapsed walls and flying tin roofs and debris, officials said. By nightfall yesterday, the storm had weakened with sustained winds of 59mph and gusts of up to 74mph, as it blew 18 miles south of the congested metropolitan Manila area. It was moving towards the western province of Zambales, forecasters said. Earlier, the storm recorded sustained winds of 68mph and gusts of up to 86mph. Philippine Airlines cancelled flights to the affected eastern provinces, where the typhoon flooded several towns, set off a landslide and knocked out power, disaster officials said. Ships and fishing boats were warned against venturing into typhoon-battered areas. Officials said that they had launched a search for 19 fishermen on board eight motor boats missing off Borlongan on the island of Samar. A motor boat capsized near central Cebu province and rescuers saved all 17 people on board, according to a radio news report. More than 5,500 commuters and 200 buses, trucks and cars were stranded after authorities temporarily halted sea ferries to Samar and nearby areas. More than 8,000 people were forced from their homes in Samar and in nearby Albay, where local officials closely monitored possible mudslides near villages on the slopes of the Mayon volcano, which erupted early this year. As Storm "Reming" left the country yesterday, at least 15 passengers were injured when an incoming international flight of Philippine Airlines (PAL) hit strong turbulence spawned by the tropical storm, airport officials said. Reming (international code name Xangsane) weakened into a tropical storm, as it moved to the South China Sea, leaving a trail of death and destruction. The PAL Airbus 340 suddenly lost altitude 45 minutes before landing, sending some of its 227 passengers, many of whom were not wearing seat belts, crashing into the overhead baggage bins and ceiling. Flight 101 landed safely in Manila. At least 15 people, including children and elderly, were taken to a clinic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for treatment, said medical officer Ma. Caridad Ipac-Nuas. The plane made a stop-over in Honolulu after departing from the US mainland. Meanwhile, at least ten people were killed, 221 others injured and 32 missing in Reming's wake, disaster officials said. They expect the number of casualties to go up as more situation reports from the provinces trickle in. Many of the injured, mostly by flying tin roofs and other debris, were in Sorsogon province, the hardest hit by Reming, the Office of Civil Defence said, and 19 of the 25 missing were fishermen on board eight motor boats that capsized off Samar. Parts of Metro Manila and some areas in nearby provinces remained submerged in floodwaters early yesterday as rescuers continued relief efforts. Flash floods, some of them chest-deep, forced over 43,000 people from their homes in several provinces and in Metro Manila. About 1,800 people fled their homes in Marikina when the Marikina river overflowed, while four villages in Quezon City were flooded. In Valenzuela, heavy rains did not stop a two-hour fire from destroying a food manufacturing factory and a house beside the building. Fire officials were still investigating the cause of the blaze. They said that the fire spread rapidly because of strong winds and highly inflammable materials in the factory. No one was reported hurt, except for the factory's owner, Jerry Co, 29, who reportedly suffered a stroke. Some parts of the nation's capital and nearby provinces up to as far as Samar remained without electricity yesterday after winds of up to 110km per hour cut transmission lines. Although repairs were under way, large areas north and south of Metro Manila could still be without power for most of the day, the Manila Electric Co. said. Communication lines to some provinces remained cut off. Officials of the NDCC estimated the damage to crops and property at about 467 million pesos, and said that the figure could still rise. Sorsogon accounted for most of the damage, at 431 million pesos. Reming weakened at dawn yesterday as it headed for Zambales province. Packing sustained centre winds of 100kph and gusts of 130kph, Reming was unlikely to leave Philippine territory until early today. Forecasters expect Reming to gain strength as it churns across the South China Sea towards southern China. As of 17.00 yesterday, Reming was spotted 250km west-northwest of Iba, Zambales, moving at 55kph. Sea vessels were advised not to set sail, as coastal waters are expected to be rough to dangerous. At the height of its fury, Reming packed sustained winds of up to 110kph, destroying houses, knocking down electric posts, cutting off power, and uprooting trees, while triggering floods that unleashed landslides and damaged roads. In Manila, floods spawned by heavy rains forced at least eight international and 22 domestic flights to cancel last Saturday. "Many airport staff could not make it because of the floods, so flights are incurring delays," said a spokesman of the Ninoy Aquinoup International Airport, as queues built at check-in counters. Disaster officials said that 228 people were injured and 46 others were missing as the typhoon battered the Philippines from Saturday (28 October). Most of the dead drowned, officials said. Damage to property was placed by officials at 1.30 billion pesos ($25.25 million). "(Xangsane) has changed course to the north-east and intensified into a typhoon threatening northern Luzon," the local weather bureau said. It said that the typhoon was forecast to be 100km west-north-west of Laoag, Ilocos Norte in the northern Philippines by tomorrow and that it was "likely to gain strength within the next 12 to 18 hours". It would then blow towards the South China Sea. Despite losses of life and property, initial damage to rice, corn and coconuts was minimal, the Department of Agriculture said. The Department of Agriculture said in a preliminary report that estimated crop losses due to the typhoon amounted to 178.14 million pesos. It said that some 37,171 rice lands were affected, causing an estimated loss of 30,387 tonnes of unmilled rice (palay) worth 122.91 million pesos.

31 October 2000 – Typhoon "Xangsane" whirled closer to southern Taiwan today, prompting officials to set up disaster relief centres, cancel flights and call off classes. By this afternoon, "Xangsane" was centred 149 miles south of Taiwan and expected to hit the island's southern tip by late tomorrow if it maintained its current course, said Lin Ting-yi, a forecaster at Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau. International flights were cancelled from Kaohsiung to the Philippines, where the typhoon left 26 dead, 50 missing and property and crop damage worth $17 million. Domestic flights from Taipei to the southern counties of Taitung, Pingtung, Kaohsiung and Hualien also were cancelled as "Xangsane" rumbled closer. Trains were also halted, while landslide and flash flood warnings were posted over many cities. Roads were deserted as rains began to pour and the winds strengthened. Typhoon relief and co-ordinating centres were set up all over southern Taiwan.

3 November 2000 – Taiwan rescue workers searched for ten people in the wake of Typhoon. "Xangsane", which triggered flash floods and landslides that killed at least 53 people and caused widespread devastation, officials said today. Among the dead were 14 elderly people, trapped by rising floodwaters in a rest home in Keelung.

Typhoon "Xangsane" moved away from Taiwan and closer to southern Japan today, leaving 53 dead and ten missing in the island's worst flooding in three decades, officials said. "Xangsane" was weakening to a tropical storm with winds below 74mph and located in the East China Sea, as it moved towards Okinawa, the Central Weather Bureau said. Taiwan experienced the worst flooding in 30 years, as "Xangsane" swept across the northern part of the island, the government disaster relief centre said in a report. In the city of Keelung, 15 people were drowned as they prayed while trapped in the basement of a Buddhist temple. In a home for senior citizens, 14 people drowned while waiting for rescue workers, local media reported. Skies remained overcast today, and divers and rescue workers were paddling over floodwaters, picking up residents stranded near their half-submerged houses and cars. In Keelung, river dykes collapsed and wooden fishing vessels remained moored in the harbour. Roads were blocked by mud and silt, officials said. International flights were cancelled from Kaohsiung to the Philippines, where the typhoon earlier left 26 people dead, 50 missing and property and crop damage worth $17 million.

3 November 2000 – At least 24 people were killed today after typhoon "Bebinca" slammed into the northern Philippines island of Luzon and roared through Manila, officials said. Joey Lina, governor of Laguna Province south of Manila, said that 11 of the dead were part of a group of more than 100 mountaineers in the province. Six drowned, two died in a landslide, and three were carried away by rampaging waters. The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said that nine people were killed elsewhere, mostly by landslides that struck the Manila suburb of Antipolo. Four others died in the Cagayan and Nueva Vhiscaya provinces north-east of Manila.

12 November 2000 – Caracas, Venezuela

Venezuelan authorities declared a state of alert in the coastal state of Vargas today, as heavy rains caused flooding and mudslides that blocked roads and left four people missing. Vargas Gov. Antonio Rodriguez appealed for calm. "Many people have lost their homes and have come out on to the streets, and we are asking them to remain calm," Rodriguez told local Union Radio. Several days of downpours have overwhelmed roads and sewers in Vargas, a narrow strip of Venezuela's central Caribbean coastline, bordered to the south by steep mountains. Civil Defence chief Angel Rangel said mudslides had destroyed 15 homes in hillside shanty towns and damaged 250 residences. Four people were reported missing after their car was swept away by a swollen river.

13 November 2000 – At least one Venezuelan died and more than 2,000 people lost their homes after heavy rains lashed the coastal state of Vargas over the weekend (11-12 November), authorities said yesterday. Five other Venezuelans were missing after flash floods tore through several hillside shanty towns in Vargas and some northern suburbs of the nearby capital, Caracas. Vargas Gov. Antonio Rodriguez declared a state of alert on Sunday due to the torrential rains which temporarily halted flights from the Simon Bolivar International Airport and blocked the main highway to Caracas.

15 November 2000 – Venezuelan authorities declared a state of emergency in seven northern states today due to heavy rains that have lashed the South American nation since last week, killing at least one person. Civil Defence chief Angel Rangel said that the rains had left 2,000 homeless across the country. An emergency was declared in the north-western states of Tachira, Trujillo and Zulia, and the central states of Distrito Federal, Carabobo, Aragua and Vargas.