ACT Alliance

Nilcimar Fleiman digs the remains of her house in an effort to salvage belongings.
Photo: ACT/FLD/Gustavo Bonato

A woman digs with her bare hands at the spot her house stood before it was swallowed up by an avalanche of earth and water.

Nilcimar Fleiman is scavenging for pieces of clothes and family photos under debris and mud. She has little more to look for.

Fleiman’s house simply doesn’t exist anymore, nor do dozens of other homes in Floresta, a poor neighbourhood of Nova Friburgo city. Her words define the challenge for thousands of families in the Rio de Janeiro mountainous region:

“I found a pair of pants which I had just bought before the rain surprised us and destroyed everything. I will not give up. I will wash it and use it at least once. But honestly, I don’t know what will happen from now one. We have lost everything,” the seamstress says and mother of four says.

Hers was not an isolated case. In the early hours of January 11, a rare combination of climate phenomena caused the worst natural catastrophe in Brazilian history. Just a few hours of heavy rain ended in dramatic landslides and floods which have killed 850 people, with more than 400 still missing. Local authorities calculate that 30,000 people have lost their homes and, like Fleiman, face the difficult task of rebuilding lives and livelihoods with virtually no resources.

The amount of rain concentrated in a small region was unprecedented. In most cases, the worst affected population was living in areas which proved to be dangerous: on slopes and at the bottom of valleys, too close to rivers. Three cities were hardest hit: Teresópolis, Petrópolis and Nova Friburgo.

In the same Nova Friburgo slum where Fleiman was scrambling to find her belongings, misfortune does not only have natural causes. Gerino Mariano da Silva, a retired mason, says unsafe housing construction on steep hillsides was authorised by municipal authorities:

“I came here more than 40 years ago. My house was one of the first ones. This area was all covered by forests. At a certain moment (time), the land was divided in lots and sold legally.”

At daybreak on January 11, Mariano da Silva watched water pouring from the top of the hill and saw many neighbours trying to escape the deluge. During the hours the storm raged, five families squeezed inside his small house looking for shelter. When the morning came, they had to leave. It just was too dangerous for them to stay.

Mariano da Silva counted at least 40 friends and acquaintances dead. Now authorities have condemned his home, saying it is in a risky area. The 65-year-old is living in a community school with dozens of other people, and has no idea where to go. “After this tragedy, everywhere I step, I feel fear. It’s really traumatising,” he says.

After the catastrophe, Brazil appealed nation-wide for donations. The worst affected areas received food, water and clothing. But almost three weeks after the disaster, general attention has begun to fade and fundraising dwindled. While the government keeps working to re-establish general infrastructure like roads and electricity, the problem of thousands of families remains the same: they have no place to live, factories and businesses have been destroyed, people have lost their jobs, and agriculture land has been wiped out leaving small farmers with no possibility of working the land.

ACT Alliance members in Brazil have issued an appeal to support poor families in their long term struggle to resume their lives and regain dignity and confidence.