Rio reeling as toll from landslides rises to 184
Source: Agencies |
April 10, 2010, Saturday
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THE death toll from floods and landslides around the Rio de Janeiro area reached 184 and was expected to rise further as searchers continued looking for bodies yesterday.
Morning rains threatened to set off new slides even as emergency crews used excavating equipment to search for victims at the most devastated site -- a slum built atop a garbage dump that was buried by a landslide.
Crews have pulled 17 bodies from the debris so far at the site in Niteroi, next to Rio. Authorities fear the death toll from the Niteroi slide alone could be as many as 200, though it is not clear exactly how many people were buried beneath the mud.
The latest confirmed death toll of 184 was released by the Fire Department. A statement from firefighters added that 161 have been injured.
Most of the victims were swept away in landslides that roared through slums built on steep, unstable hillsides.
The landslide swept through the Morro Bumba slum in Niteroi, engulfing as many as 60 homes. Nothing was left behind but a massive crater of blackened, sodden earth and the remnants of flimsy brick shacks.
"I had just picked up my 10-year-old son from the day care. We walked down the hill to the street, and within 10 minutes, my community collapsed," said Patricia Faria, 28, crying as she watched heavy machinery dump the remains of her life into a waiting truck. "All I have left is what you see on me -- and my son. Thank God, I have my son."
Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said it was hard to say how many people were buried in the latest slide. "A worse-case scenario is 200," he said. "We know that about 60 houses were buried."
"This was a catastrophe, no question," said Rio de Janeiro state Governor Sergio Cabral. "It was a human catastrophe. It was an environmental catastrophe."
The death toll has surpassed that of flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina in 2008, which killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
"In our experience, it's an instant death," Pedro Machado, undersecretary of Rio state's Civil Defense department, said of the victims buried by landslides.
Faria said she was certain people were buried inside the Morro Bumba slum's Assembly of God church, which collapsed during nightly services.
Clesio Araujo, 39, said he narrowly escaped the slide, leaving a pizza parlor just a few minutes before the earth gave way. He said a family was still inside.
The destruction was compounded because the slum is largely built atop an old garbage dump, making it especially unstable and vulnerable to the heavy rains.
Morning rains threatened to set off new slides even as emergency crews used excavating equipment to search for victims at the most devastated site -- a slum built atop a garbage dump that was buried by a landslide.
Crews have pulled 17 bodies from the debris so far at the site in Niteroi, next to Rio. Authorities fear the death toll from the Niteroi slide alone could be as many as 200, though it is not clear exactly how many people were buried beneath the mud.
The latest confirmed death toll of 184 was released by the Fire Department. A statement from firefighters added that 161 have been injured.
Most of the victims were swept away in landslides that roared through slums built on steep, unstable hillsides.
The landslide swept through the Morro Bumba slum in Niteroi, engulfing as many as 60 homes. Nothing was left behind but a massive crater of blackened, sodden earth and the remnants of flimsy brick shacks.
"I had just picked up my 10-year-old son from the day care. We walked down the hill to the street, and within 10 minutes, my community collapsed," said Patricia Faria, 28, crying as she watched heavy machinery dump the remains of her life into a waiting truck. "All I have left is what you see on me -- and my son. Thank God, I have my son."
Rio state health secretary Sergio Cortes said it was hard to say how many people were buried in the latest slide. "A worse-case scenario is 200," he said. "We know that about 60 houses were buried."
"This was a catastrophe, no question," said Rio de Janeiro state Governor Sergio Cabral. "It was a human catastrophe. It was an environmental catastrophe."
The death toll has surpassed that of flooding and mudslides in the southern state of Santa Catarina in 2008, which killed nearly 130 people and displaced about 80,000.
"In our experience, it's an instant death," Pedro Machado, undersecretary of Rio state's Civil Defense department, said of the victims buried by landslides.
Faria said she was certain people were buried inside the Morro Bumba slum's Assembly of God church, which collapsed during nightly services.
Clesio Araujo, 39, said he narrowly escaped the slide, leaving a pizza parlor just a few minutes before the earth gave way. He said a family was still inside.
The destruction was compounded because the slum is largely built atop an old garbage dump, making it especially unstable and vulnerable to the heavy rains.
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