8 Dec 22
Extreme weather and lack of prevention policies leave at least 22 dead and thousands homeless in 8 Brazilian states
BAt least 22 people have died in 8 Brazilian states due to lack of planning for the rainy season between November and the first week of December. Around 22,800 people have been displaced, while another 3,171 are homeless due to the raings. The survey was done by CNN based on data released by the state Civil Defenses.
The states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, Sergipe, Espírito Santo, Bahia, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro suffer from landslides, floods, and power outages as a result of atypical rainfall volumes and planning neglect from the authorities for the extreme events that increase in frequency with climate change.
The month of November was marked by unusual weather episodes for the period, with atypical cold at the beginning of the month, followed by heavy rain, anticipating the summer rainy season. The forecast for the month of December is that storms will maintain a high volume and temperatures will rise throughout Brazil.
A survey by the Natural Disasters Observatory showed that, in the last 10 years, the deaths caused by lack of prevention to excessive rainfall and its consequences in Brazil totaled 1,756. The lives lost by floods until September this year already reached 457, which represents more than 25% of the total deaths in the decade.
- At the end of 2021, the state of Bahia suffered another climate emergency.
- In February and March 2022, Petrópolis and the mountains regions of Rio de Janeiro were hit by an atypical amount of rain.
- In April, it was the turn of the state of São Paulo.
- In June, torrential rains hit Pernambuco state.
Despite this, Bolsonaro cut 99% of the budget allocated to natural disasters for 2023. The Ministry of Regional Development has reduced the budget for emergency disaster mitigation from R$2.8 million to a meager R$25,000. For the execution of projects and works of slope containment in urban areas, there was a cut of 94% of the resource, from R$ 53.9 million to R$ 2.7 million. “The amount that was destined was already small compared to the amount necessary for mitigation works. So, what was already too little, became even less,” points out Professor Pedro Luiz Côrtes from USP’s Institute of Energy and Environment.
In addition to avoidable deaths, climate collapse also brings significant economic losses. A survey by Swiss Re estimated losses from extreme weather events occurring in 2022 worldwide at $260 billion.
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