THE TOPOGRAPHY OF VALPARAISO

There are three main elements that form the topography of Valparaiso, the bay, the plane (aka "plan") and the hills.

The plan is the small, stretched coastal plane. It extends around the bay, and is completely enclosed by the hills. It is divided into two parts, the Port, and the Almendral. The port is the western sector, and corresponds to the primitive part of Valparaiso. The Almendral corresponds to the largest part of the plan, and this is where the most refilling projects have occurred, due to the frequency of floods caused by storms from the Pacific.

The hills are what give originality to the city, but they are also what limits its growth and development. They are continuous sources of problems. They form a giant amphitheater, with erosion valleys realted to old sea levels. They present terraces that step up the hills and these steps have facilitated the process of occupation. They form true "suspended neighborhoods", that sometimes become small cities in themselves. Even though they have many factors in common, each hill has its originality.

The contact between the hills and the plan is not a smooth one, with cliffs that are only interrupted occasionally by the thin valleys that open to the plan. The necessity to scale these cliffs initiated the installation of elevators and stairs, which are part of the cultural history of the city. The valleys have transformed themselves into access-ways to the hills, but also allow for the hills to drop big avalanches of mud and earth on the plan after every heavy rain. The climate, vegetation and soil unite to aggravate this problem.

The bay is completely protected to the south, but totally open to the north. It offers no natural protection against the winter winds that blow from the northwest, that produce storms that have disastrous affects on the city. The rapid descent of the continental platform permit the entry of many different sized ships, and it is only necessary to occasionally drudge the port, to remove the material deposited by the heavy rains.

The hills produce a high risk for the city of Valparaiso, due to the landslides that the slopes can produce. The dangers are constant, and the potential risk affects all the valleys and plan.

The rock of the hills is very strongly metamorphosized and weathered, throughout the geologic time and due to the climatic elements. The cliff and the hills are exposed to an evident risk of great rainfalls.

In Valparaiso, a rainstorm corresponds to the landslide of rocky material that covers practically the entire surface that you find at the foot of the hill. The rains present themselves sporratically and violently, and they mostly appear in the fall or winter. They are classified as torrential, because of the violence and short duration. The duration could las anywhere from one or two hours to a complete day, and can disappear for weeks.

Wind also plays a role in the erosion of the city. There is a very violent wind that comes from the Pacific, from the southwest, and is very erosive, contributing to the weathering of the soil, but without the violence caused by the rains. The human activity of dismantling the vegetation cover allows for the acceleration of the potential desintigration of the rocks.

The slopes of the hills are very deteriorated, eroded by the people, that pull up the natural vegetation to establish their houses. The natural phenomenon cannot be evaded, but we can mitigate the effects. This requires a cultural change, changing the attitute of the people, from the most simple public until the authorities.