RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo. The locations differ, but the tragedy provoked by the rains is repeated. Part of this problem is the precarious housing conditions of a significant portion of the population.
According to the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts (Cemaden), 8.2 million Brazilians live in risk areas – an estimate based on the latest census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2010. The number is expected to be updated in 2022 and may have suffered drastic increases due to the pandemic.
In 825 municipalities in Brazil, there are 27,660 risk areas, according to Cemaden, most of which are located in the South, Southeast, and Northeast, where the terrain is more rugged and tends to lead to more frequent risks of flooding, landslides, and others. In addition, there is the issue of lack of urbanization.
The problem is national in the vision of infrastructure lawyer Luiz Felipe Graziano. It affects the national territory, especially Rio de Janeiro and the large cities in the Northeast.
“We are talking about the government’s leniency in allowing invasions of public or private areas. These areas were not regularized, and no property title was given to these people. Consequently, many public services end up not reaching them, and urbanization is left behind,” he evaluates.
The health crisis caused by covid-19 may have aggravated the scenario, forcing many to seek cheaper housing options and worse conditions after growth in poverty levels. In São Paulo, for example, 20,000 families moved into slums during the pandemic, according to information from the Municipal Housing Secretariat.
In the opinion of Cemaden’s substitute director and Institutional Relations coordinator, Regina Alvalá, the picture is critical. According to her, there is a combination of the risk of natural disasters with the vulnerability of the large contingent of people living in precarious places.
“We have large cities in the country, with many people; we have the metropolitan regions, where many people also live; and the less favored part of the population usually lives in more precarious areas, in the outskirts,” she says.
With information from Correio Braziliense
More: Brazil news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Read More from The Rio Times