In 2022, at least 457 people died in disasters caused by rains in Brazil, according to the National Confederation of Municipalities. Oblivious to the mortality, Bolsonaro passed on the blade 94% of the federal budget for slope containment projects in 2023. It fell from a derisory R$ 53.9 million to an insignificant R$ 2.7 million. Lula used part of his Transition PEC to add value to the heading. It rose to BRL 156.7 million —a figure that is still unsatisfactory to serve the 9.5 million Brazilians who live in areas subject to landslides and floods, according to the IBGE.
At a time when the corpses of the floods in the south of Bahia, in Minas Gerais, in the interior of São Paulo and in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro remain at the top of national memory, Brazilians look to the north coast of São Paulo with the uncomfortable feeling that you are watching a rerun of a horror movie. A film made of storms, mud, destruction, helplessness and dozens of bodies. The authorities fly over the drama armed with the basic first aid kit. In it, there are lame excuses, insufficient emergency funding and the lamentations after the fact.
Essentially, there is not much doubt about diagnosis and therapy. The growing and disorderly occupation of slopes and riversides constitute a permanent flirtation with new disasters. Municipalities, states and the federal government need to act in a coordinated way.
It is advisable to complete unfinished containment works, invest in technological systems to monitor the weather, improve alert plans in emergency situations and enhance Civil Defense. It is imperative to implement housing programs that offer a safe roof to those who have been pushed into risk areas.
For the rest, the climate denialism that some flat-Earthers still cultivate by choice must be abandoned by pressure. It has become unavoidable to act to curb climate change that raises the global temperature, enhancing tragedies.
Under Bolsonaro, Civil Defense funds were cut and secret centrão amendments were released. Under Lula, R$ 156.7 million are earmarked for slope containment and R$ 3 billion for Arthur Lira to distribute to novice deputies.
With the count of the dead on the coast of São Paulo still ongoing, the mayor of São Sebastião, Felipe Augusto (PSDB), attributed the “greatest tragedy in the city’s history” to excessive rainfall. He claimed that there was preventive work, with the cleaning of storm sewers and monitoring of risk areas.
The problem, according to the mayor, was the “flood”. With so much rain, he said, there is no prevention that will help. That is to say: the fault of the Almighty. In this context, the Brazilian observes the scene, remembers the words that soaked his patience in previous floods and concludes: Said and done. As usual, everything has been said and nothing has been done.