Death by earth & water in the Brazilian summer



Clipped front pages of Brazil papers, 13 January 2011.

In the translation, this non-Portuguese reader found the headline of A Noticia--"the coming events in 2011"--quite eerie since it has nothing to do with the photographic spread on the "catastrophe in Rio".  The show will definitely go on for the "over 20 trade fairs and conferences in Joinvilee" during the year, but as of now, rescue workers are desperately looking for victims of the landslides in Teresopolis, Nova Friburgo and Petropolis, three cities in the mountainous region near Rio de Janeiro. 

The mountain came tumbling down at dawn of Thursday, 13 January, after becoming water-logged from so much rain--almost a month's rain in 24 hours.  "Torrents of mud and water," Reuters reported, "set off by heavy rains left trail of destruction ... toppling houses, buckling roads and burying entire families as they slept." 

The latest death toll was 443, with more feared.  It may yet exceed the 594 lives lost in the same area, which Extra  reported for the decade (2001-10), more than half of that, 331, last year.  "It's a recurring tragedy," the paper cried, "but ate quando (until when)?" 

And yet it's summer in South America when the rains come in Brazil. It's the climate and urban sprawl combined, says Correio Braziliense, that causes this tragedy. The mountainsides have been stripped where people built brick and wooden houses.

"Landslides and flash floods are common in much of Brazil," Reuters reported, "often exposing poor urban planning and a lack of preventive action by authorities." Apparently, there are no housing policies that prevent poor people from building houses in risky areas such as the base of steep hills. According to Reuters, "President Dilma Rousseff, facing the first major challenge of her presidency since taking office on January 1, called it a tragedy that could not be blamed only on mother nature."

De javu? This catastrophe in Rio recalls the landslides that swept away hillside villages in northern Philippines, and the sudden flood that submerged large portions of Metro Manila, at the height of storm Ondoy in 2009. 

Clipped front page of Manila Bulletin (Philippines), 14 Jan 2011.

At present, people are in evacuation centers in flooded towns in Albay in northern Luzon and Leyte in the Visayas due to heavy rains.  The Philippine weather office PAGASA has warned 9 provinces to brace for the worst due to predicted adverse climate conditions.

Sources:

1.   Front Pages, 13 January 2011 of the following Brazilian papers --

      1.1.  A Noticia (Joinville) at http://www.clicrbs.com.br/anoticia/jsp/default.jsp?uf=2&local=18&section=capa_online

      1.2.   Extra (Rio de Janeiro).

      1.3.   Folha da Regiao (Aracatuba) at http://www.folhadaregiao.com.br/

      1.4.   Correio Braziliense (Brasilia, Distrito Federal) at http://www.correioweb.com.br/
     1.5.   Gazeta Do Povo (Curitiba) at.http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/

2.   Queiroz, Sergio. (2011, Jan 13). Brazil flood death toll rises to 443, more feared. Reuters. Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110113/wl_nm/us_brazil_rains/print