u/strassgaten

We all know that magnitude doesn't exactly map out 1:1 to intensity and there are so many factors influencing how strong of a shaking people on the ground actually feel, such as depth of hypocentre, type of soil, type of vibration etc. I was just watching some clips of the earthquake in La Guaira and the peak shaking seemed more powerful than even the earthquakes in Concepción 2010 or Sendai 2011 despite the magnitude being far lower (although those two were a lot longer). People were thrown on the ground and cars nearly flipped sideways. Even in Caracas itself the movement just looked so strong. I am aware that the concept is a bit fuzzy and not necessarily well studied; the Mercalli scale also isn't enough because a moderately intense earthquake can be highly destructive if building standards are poor, and vice versa. So what's (likely) the strongest shaking ever felt by people?

First off, I'm so sorry about the recent earthquakes, I hope you are all doing well.

I am from Italy, and Venezuela has (or used to have) a huge Italian Venezuelan community. A friend of mine was born in Caracas. His grandpa moved there in the 1960s to work as an engineer for a major state electrical company (can't remember which one). His father also grew up there.

In the 1960s and 1970s, they were living a high life. My friend told me the Venezuelan upper class at the time lived an elite lifestyle, and the Venezuelan middle class lived pretty much as a regular western European or better. His grandparents lived in a sprawling apartment in east Caracas, bought fancy cars and property in Miami, and had expensive vacations to Europe on a regular basis. Caracas was a cosmopolitan city brimming with culture and filled with cool restaurants and shiny malls that didn't really exist in most of Europe plus a subway that seemed super techy. Safety was not really an issue. There were shantytowns but even the poorest were dignified and had access to schooling and job opportunities. It felt first world.

Things started to change with the Viernes Negro and then the Caracazo. By that time, his family had realized the good times were over. Even so, my friend was born in the early 1990s and said that his life as a kid in an upper middle class family wasn't too different than in any European country. He said at the time Caracas still felt ahead of rural Italy in some respects, particularly shopping and transit. Food and entertainment were cheap and overall it wasn't worse than any other LatAm. Actually he said it still felt better because other LatAm countries were a complete mess at the time while at least inflation in Venezuela wasn't terrible and crime was not as prevalent as in say Brazil or Colombia. The country was marginal in the drug trade route so crime was limited to a few sparse gangs in some problem neighbourhoods which you could easily avoid.

When Chavez was elected, initially they hoped it was a fluke. Then when he started expropriating companies and firing officials left and right, and when crime started to get more and more widespread, they began to move their assets abroad. His father bought a house in Italy, and my friend completed his high school and university there. When Maduro was elected, his parents moved to Italy permanently. Then when the crisis got really bad everyone of his family members in Venezuela also left after several of their friends were either arrested by the regime, or robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight on the street, or physically attacked and injured on the subway, or even killed in their own homes.

The only one left was the grandpa, who refused to leave. By 2016-17 they had to send him money and he would do queues to get deodorant sticks or basic food staples. They tried to get him out but it was too difficult and they were constantly terrified for him because he lived alone and had no help. While they say that the situation has now improved somewhat (barring the earthquake), they still don't set foot in Venezuela unless necessary.

He says Venezuela is just not the same place it used to be and he's glad he and his family managed to get out in time. His tale of how the country went from prosperous to collapsed and how the signs of impending catastrophe became more and more obvious and things got worse and worse is fascinating (albeit tragic) to me.

So for those who have lived through it or have family members who did, what is your experience, if you're comfortable sharing? I hope this question doesn't come across as inappropriate, I just think it's an interesting piece of history and I really hope some day your country will manage to turn things around for the better.

So what is your experience?