Mudslide Rescue Efforts Continue in Brazil
- 14 years ago
Rescue crews found two bodies on the fifth day of searches for mudslide victims. The disaster left at least 74 people dead in Rio de Janeiro state.
Bulldozers are still clearing debris and removing piles of reddish-brown mud from houses destroyed last week, when a hillside collapsed in Angra dos Reis district.
Officials started to topple houses on Monday in areas still at risk of landslides as heavy rains are forecast for the coming days.
[Resident]:
"It's sad, you know? You look at the place where you have always lived with your family, with your children, and everything is gone."
Rio's state Governor, Sergio Cabral, agreed with the Brazilian President to provide extra money for the city to build houses for families in high risk areas; to reforest hillsides, and erect walls to prevent future tragedies.
Relatives of an eight-month-old boy, whose mother and five brothers died, invited the family to their house for the holidays.
[Relative of Victim]:
"We invited them to stay in our house, to spend the New Year's with us - we even bought gifts for them. And I don't know what happened. They decided early on the next morning (to travel), and they went (to Angra dos Reis). They went there and they didn’t return."
Angra dos Reis, a nearby island of Ilha Grande, is a magnet for local and foreign tourists over the New Year's holiday. In Ilha Grande, heavy rains left a lodge and surrounding homes buried under a mountain of mud, killing roughly 50 people.
It rained more in the last five days than it normally does in one month. Access to the area remains difficult as roads and beaches are covered with mud and trees from the collapsed hillside.
Bulldozers are still clearing debris and removing piles of reddish-brown mud from houses destroyed last week, when a hillside collapsed in Angra dos Reis district.
Officials started to topple houses on Monday in areas still at risk of landslides as heavy rains are forecast for the coming days.
[Resident]:
"It's sad, you know? You look at the place where you have always lived with your family, with your children, and everything is gone."
Rio's state Governor, Sergio Cabral, agreed with the Brazilian President to provide extra money for the city to build houses for families in high risk areas; to reforest hillsides, and erect walls to prevent future tragedies.
Relatives of an eight-month-old boy, whose mother and five brothers died, invited the family to their house for the holidays.
[Relative of Victim]:
"We invited them to stay in our house, to spend the New Year's with us - we even bought gifts for them. And I don't know what happened. They decided early on the next morning (to travel), and they went (to Angra dos Reis). They went there and they didn’t return."
Angra dos Reis, a nearby island of Ilha Grande, is a magnet for local and foreign tourists over the New Year's holiday. In Ilha Grande, heavy rains left a lodge and surrounding homes buried under a mountain of mud, killing roughly 50 people.
It rained more in the last five days than it normally does in one month. Access to the area remains difficult as roads and beaches are covered with mud and trees from the collapsed hillside.