Americas News

Rain leaves at least 77 dead in Rio: 'absolute chaos'

Apr 7, 2010, 0:35 GMT

View of a landslide in a street of the Mangueira shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after a 17 hour downpour that began the previous day and ended on 06 April 2010. EPA/MARCELO SAYAO

   Rio de Janeiro - At least 77 people died in and around Rio de Janeiro by late Tuesday in heavy rain that caused widespread flooding and wreaked havoc in Brazil's second-largest city.

According to the fire department, 40 other people were injured and admitted to various hospitals.

The number of dead could continue to rise, since an unknown number of people remained buried in mudslides that crushed their homes in the 'favelas' (slums) of Rio and in the neighbouring towns of Niteroi and Sao Gonçalo.

   'There will probably be more deaths, since there are several sites of mudslides where rescue efforts are ongoing, especially in the Niteroi region,' said Civil Defence Secretary Sergio Cortes.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes asked 'cariocas' (as Rio city residents are called) to remain at home so as not to hinder the movements of rescue teams. But there were also urgent calls for slum dwellers to evacuate their precarious shacks.

According to Civil Defence officials, there were 140 mudslides and over 40 homes collapsed since Monday in Rio alone.

   In the Rio neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, a mudslide buried shanty homes in the Morro dos Prazeres favela, killing 15 people.

Rescue workers fought in the rain to find victims under a mudslide in Rio Comprido neighbourhood, where mud buried three homes holding an estimated 15-20 people. Eleven people were missing in Jacarepagua after a mudslide. Five people died in their collapsed home in the Morro dos Macacos favela, in the Vila Isabel neighbourhood.

   Rio de Janeiro state Governor Sergio Cabral said the 20 hours of rain were the most intense the state had ever faced.

   According to the meteorology institute ClimaTempo, the first 14 hours of rain starting late Monday poured double the 9.9 cm normal for April.

Authorities emphasized the need to stop illegal occupation on mudslide-prone hillsides.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who watched the disaster unravel first-hand, said his government will help local authorities move poor residents out of mudslide-vulnerable areas.

'There needs to be a consciousness-raising effort to prevent people from occupying risk areas. We will show complete solidarity in a joint search for solutions to this problem,' Lula said.

Governor Cabral made a desperate call to stop improvised occupations of land.

'We have to put an end to the populace-pleasing trend of allowing irregular occupations in areas of known mudslide risk,' Cabral said.

   Rio Mayor Paes, who took charge of the city less than a year ago, blamed obvious deficiencies on his predecessors.

   'On a zero-to-10 scale, the degree to which Rio is prepared for rain like this is zero,' Paes said.

Universities, schools and courts suspended their activity, as did the local legislature.

Rain ironically forced Lula to cancel an event to launch public works in a favela, but he was undaunted about the city's recovery.

'It does not rain everyday. Neither are there quakes everyday in Chile and Haiti,' Lula said in an interview.

'We can only ask God to make the rain stop, so we can get on with life in the city,' he said.

Lula stressed that his government's resources, including the Navy, are at the disposal of Rio authorities.

'All the material help that the mayor and the governor may need is ready and at their disposal,' he stressed.

   Rio de Janeiro is set to host in 2016 the first Olympic Games ever held in South America.