Nielmar de Oliveira Reporter Agência Brasil
Rio de Janeiro - "In Brazil, it is the rule that people live in areas of risk. Not an exception," declared president Dilma Rousseff, after flying over the area hit by historical rainfall and mudslides in the mountains north of the city of Rio de Janeiro (the death toll is also historic: more than 500 and rising). Dilma said it was a moment to begin rebuilding while adopting measures to protect hillsides so that similar tragedies do not occur in the future.
Dilma announced that the federal government will speed up funds for the municipalities of Nova Friburgo, Petropolis, Teresopolis and Sumidouro, that were severely punished by the rains. "The government will send funds but local authorities must submit to oversight rules," she declared.
In Nova Friburgo, Dilma landed and walked around the city center (as she had to wade through mud she was wearing Wellingtons). "It is certainly a very dramatic moment. What we saw was deeply moving. The suffering of the people was visible everywhere and there is still danger," the president declared. At a news conference later back in Rio de Janeiro, she added that the government will also antecipate payments of Bolsa Family benefits and assist low-income families in making rent payments ("aluguel social").
Dilma emphasized the need to invest in preventive measures. "This is not just a matter of civil defense. Prevention involves basic sanitation, drainage and housing policies that will improve the quality of life for the population," she said. "When you don't have housing policy, low-income families are going to live where? They live where they are not supposed to live, exactly in uninhabited areas," the president said. These uninhabited areas are on hillsides, river banks and other areas of risk where the poor find shelter to huddle in their hardscrabble lives.
Dilma said that she intends to move ahead with the housing program (that builds homes for low-income families) begun in the Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva administration, known as "Minha Casa, Minha Vida."