ACT Alliance has deployed a strong emergency relief team to support survivors of Brazil's worst disaster in over 35 years.
The official number of dead has passed 840, with more than 540 still missing, following heavy rains, severe landslides and floods. Relief workers indicate the total number of dead and missing could exceed 2000.
The six ACT Alliance members working in Brazil have assessed disaster areas and brought relief, particularly food aid, to the worst-hit villages and towns. ACT is also looking to revitalise agricultural work in rural areas as soon as possible. Two ACT emergency workers have flown in from Britain and Honduras to support the efforts of local and international members.
Brazil's government says this disaster is the second worst in Brazilian history, after a meningitis outbreak in 1974. The United Nations has described the landslides as the eighth worst in global history.
More than 20,000 people are homeless in the seven flooded cities, with more than 75,000 people directly affected by the disaster that included entire neighbourhoods disappearing from the devastation of the mudslides. The government reports that 104 bridges and nearly 6900 houses have been destroyed in seven municipalities in mountainous regions of the state of Rio de Janeiro, around 90km from Rio de Janeiro city.
The destruction of several bridges has worsened access to remote and deprived villages and towns, where the average income per person is less than half the rate of cities. The UN reports that in Petrópolis municipality, over 80 percent of agricultural land was destroyed. Many families in urban slums of Petrópolis and Nova Friburgo lost everything.
The government's priorities are to repair roads and bridges, clearing and cleaning land and building new houses. However, state and municipal authorities are being blamed for failing to invest adequately in disaster prevention and urban planning. Remote communities are not expected to receive major assistance in the near future.
Rapid assessments by staff of ACT member Koinonia and two local Lutheran churches have found that people urgently need their sources of income restored. The government's basic assistance package needs to be supplemented with better food and replacement household furniture and domestic appliances sourced. The Lutheran church in Petrópolis and Nova Friburgo has organised solidarity committees, and is distributing dried food and supplies for babies including clothes, nappies and bedding.
An ACT journalist is on the ground, collecting stories and pictures of the crisis. ACT members in Brazil are Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviços (CESE), Diaconia and Fundaç=E3o Luterana de Diaconia (FLD), Christian Aid and Norwegian Church Aid; Brazilian organisation Koinonia has been selected as the lead agency for the ACT response.
ACT has also sent an emergency Rapid Support Team to the field, comprising emergency coordinator Linda Tiongco from Christian Aid and Nancy Quan from Honduras to assist Koinonia in preparing an appeal. ACT expects to issue an appeal by this weekend.