Disaster Perpetuity?

Ravages of Brazilian floods remain

Former residents want to know where aid money went and why their homes are still in ruins. Last Modified: 05 Jan 2012 20:54

It was a year ago that floods and landslides killed more than 900 people in rural Brazil. The disaster was one of the worst in the country's history and left more than 31,000 people without homes. Because most homes still remain in ruins and rebuilding has been slow, frustrated former residents have accused the government of corruption and neglect. Many want to know what happened to all the aid money earmarked for repairing homes and roads. Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo reports from the devastated town of Teresopolis. URL:  http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2012/01/201215194012237621.html 1.      What is the link to Crisis Management? The large number of deaths and population displaced establishes this articles link to crisis management. The lack of infrastructure to an area annually hit by flooding is making this a crisis 2.      What stage of Crisis Management does the system appear to be at? This article illustrates how the problem here is a clear crisis. With over 300 deaths and more than 30,000 people left homeless this is a clear crisis. To add fuel to the fire, the government immediately released 50 million dollars to assist in the rebuilding of infrastructure destroyed by the flooding but this money has been embezzled by two separate governors. 3.      How well does the system appear to be handling the situation? The system seems to be handling the situation extremely poorly. Since so much money has been embezzled, no money seems to be directed to assisting those afflicted by the flooding. It is also a lack of geographical infrastructure development in this case; the homes that are being re-built have been destroyed almost annually by flooding. The government should try and move the people to a safer location that can withstand the rains. This is illustrating no crisis management plan for the city. 4.      What level of crisis preparedness does the system appear to have?  With the immediate input of aid workers to the area that is from an international background, the level of preparation by the actual Brazilian government seems negligible. Although they send their own construction workers to rebuild the home, their planning of where the homes are built is relatively non-existent, therefore they are destroyed year after year by flooding. 5.      What personal reactions/feelings does the description trigger in you?  This situation triggers worry in me; the government does not seem to care for its people. The government seems almost to want these situations to happen combined with poor home planning on its own end to ensure funds are released to aid and in turn embezzled by the local government members. It’s almost as if it’s a schemed plan to sustain this disaster. 6.      What advice would you offer to those involved? In this situation I would advise the people affected to ask for more government transparency and get the media involved to put pressure on the government to not only take account of funds but also skills which can be used to plan the city development.