RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The tragedy caused by heavy rains in the metropolitan region of the Brazilian city of Recife, with 91 dead and 26 missing, is mobilizing the country’s various forces for rescue work and care for the surviving victims.
On Monday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro flew over the affected area and announced an interest-free credit line for affected micro-entrepreneurs and the immediate release of federal funds for communities affected by this disaster.
“We are saddened and offer our condolences to the families. Our main objective is to comfort the families and provide material goods to the population,” Bolsonaro said at a press conference at a military airfield in Recife, which was also attended by several of his ministers.
The Pernambuco (northeast) state fire department updated the death toll to 91 on Monday and told Efe that the number of missing was 26, as many people lived alone and only learned of their situation because they were away from their jobs earlier in the week.
The Jardim Monte Verde neighborhood in the municipality of Jaboatao dos Guararapes, on the border with Recife, the regional capital of Pernambuco, has been the hardest hit by the heavy rains that have been felt in several states in northeastern Brazil since May 22.
Since Saturday, when the situation came to a head, members of the army, civil defense, firefighters, federal police, local and federal aid organizations, and volunteers worked in the area throughout the day and night.
Before Saturday, the greatest devastation was in neighboring municipalities such as Camaragibe and the historic city of Olinda, where landslides and flooding destroyed several houses, and there were five deaths, all swept away by the strong torrents of water.
The intensity of the rains is expected to subside but continue throughout the week, complicating the recovery of bodies and belongings that people are trying to extricate from the rubble and mud but are prevented from doing so by the threat of more landslides.
As a source from the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) told Efe on Monday, some of the victims in Jardim Monte Verde died in a second landslide on Saturday while returning to the remains of their homes to retrieve documents or valuables.
The international community has also expressed solidarity with Brazil. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for example, offered his condolences to his Brazilian counterpart on Monday for the victims of the heavy rains.
“You receive our deepest condolences for the tragic consequences of the heavy rains and floods in the northeastern states of your country,” Putin said in a telegram posted on the Kremlin’s website.
He stressed that Russia “shares the grief of those who have lost their loved ones to the widespread disaster, and we hope for a speedy recovery of all victims.”
The tragedy in Pernambuco came two and a half months after heavy rains killed more than 230 people in Petrópolis in the mountainous region of the northeastern state of Rio de Janeiro.
“We had similar problems in Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro), in the south of Bahia, in the north of Minas Gerais, and last year in Acre; unfortunately, these disasters happened in our continental part,” Bolsonaro said during his visit to Recife.
With information from EFE