11112
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in Brazil
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Nearly 300 people are missing after a dam collapsed at an iron ore mine in south-eastern Brazil, officials say. The break caused a sea of muddy sludge that buried the dam's cafeteria where workers were eating lunch on Friday. Rescue teams used earth-moving machinery at the site near the town of Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais state. State governor Romeu Zema said there was little chance of finding people alive. So far 11 people have been confirmed dead. It is not clear what caused the collapse of the dam, owned by Brazil's largest mining company, Vale. In pictures: Aftermath of dam collapse The 2015 dam disaster in Minas Gerais On Saturday, President Jair Bolsonaro flew over the disaster area in a helicopter. He tweeted that it was hard not to get "emotional" after seeing the scale of the devastation. He said he had accepted an offer by Israel to send search equipment that could find people buried in the mud. Also on Saturday, Brazil's Environmental Protection Agency (Ibama) issued Vale with an initial fine of 250m reais ($66.5m; £50m) in relation to the incident. Meanwhile a sum of 5bn reais has been frozen from Vale's accounts by a court to help fund recovery works and handle damage claims. What do we know about the collapse? The dam near Feijão iron ore mine burst its barrier at around 13:00 local time (15:00 GMT) on Friday, flooding another dam down below. The torrent of sludge cut through the dam's complex, nearby farms and the neighbourhood where many of the workers live, destroying houses and vehicles. There are reports that the dam's alarm system - which local residents had been trained to respond to - failed at the time of the accident. But Vale president Fabio Schvartsman said the accident may have occurred too quickly for a siren which triggers security protocols to be activated. The Globo website later reported that rescue officials provided the following breakdown on the number of the missing: ✳︎Between 100 and 150 people in the administrative area close to the burst dam ✳︎About 30 people in the Vila Vértico area ✳︎About 35 people at Nova Estancia Inn ✳︎Between 100 and 140 people in the Parque das Cachoeiras ✳︎Dozens of trapped people, many of them covered in mud, had to be evacuated by helicopter as roads were destroyed. Many other residents have been evacuated as a safety measure "I'm anxious, I want news," 28-year-old Helton Pereira told the BBC as he waited outside a hospital in nearby Belo Horizonte - his 28-year-old wife and 35-year-old sister worked at the dam's cafeteria and were both missing. "From now, the odds are minimal and it's most likely we'll recover only bodies," Governor Zema said. Built in 1976, the dam was one of several in the area and it was used to hold residue from the mine. It had capacity for 12m cubic metres and had been an inactive site for three years, Vale said. What has the reaction been? Mr Schvartsman called it a "human tragedy" and said a German company, hired to assess the dam, indicated in the most recent report last September that it was stable. The firm said it was monitoring all its other dams. A report by Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said the risk of collapse of the dam had been mentioned in a "tense meeting" that approved its licence last month (in Portuguese). The environmental activist group Greenpeace said the dam break was "a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies." It said the incidents "are not accidents but environmental crimes that must be investigated, punished and repaired". What happened in 2015? On 5 November 2015, a dam - also owned by Vale, along with BHP Billiton - burst at a Samarco mine in Mariana. More than 60m cubic metres - enough to fill 20,000 Olympic swimming pools - spilled over into the surrounding area. After a lengthy court case, BHP Billiton and Vale reached a settlement worth at least 6.8bn reais with the Brazilian government. |
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[11117] [11119] [11120] [11118] [11113] [11114] [11115] [11116]
11117
From: David Fenton, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
URL: https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2019/01/27/brumadinho-1/
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The scale of this disaster is unreal..Pics in the article link show how much washed away |
11119
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=AsSBseBZGeM
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caught on film.... |
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11120
From: David Fenton, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
URL: https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2019/02/01/brumadinho-tailings-dam-video/
| More video with the actual collapse of the dam |
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11118
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
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from the blog article: "The tweet by John O’Leary also shows the second dam that is considered to have a high potential for failure. This dam has been badly damaged, and the risk appears to be high:" sighs... |
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11113
From: eaamon, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
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ya think global warming caused excessive rains? guess I won't get much of a dividend now. |
11114
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
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I don't see in the article anything about excessive rains. I thought maybe perhaps nearby there might be deforrestation issues, but I have not looked into that. |
11115
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
URL: https://johngledhill.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/on-the-latest-minas-gerais-mining-disaster/
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Okay you are right, my bad... it was rain but also coupled with deforestation... (see link if interested). |
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11116
From: Eve, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Brumadinho dam collapse: 'Little hope' of finding missing in...
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more.... Rescue Operation for Brazil Dam Collapse Survivors Renewed, 58 Reported Dead Till Now The Civil Defense office in Minais Gerais state raised the confirmed death toll to 58, with up to 300 people still missing following the avalanche of iron ore waste from a mine Friday. Associated PressUpdated:January 28, 2019, 7:52 AM IST Brumadinho: Brazilian rescue crews returned to mud-covered flats Sunday to resume the search for hundreds of people missing in the wake of a dam collapse after the operation was suspended for several hours over fears that a second dam was at risk of breach. The Civil Defense office in Minais Gerais state raised the confirmed death toll to 58, with up to 300 people still missing following the avalanche of iron ore waste from a mine Friday. Earlier Sunday, authorities stopped the search and evacuated several neighborhoods in the southeastern city of Brumadinho that were within range of the second B6 dam owned by the Brazilian mining company Vale. An estimated 24,000 people were told to get to higher ground, but by the afternoon civil engineers said the second dam was no longer at risk. "Get out searching!" a woman yelled at firefighters near a refugee set up in the center of Brumadinho. "They could be out there in the bush." Areas of water-soaked mud appeared to be drying out, which could help firefighters get to areas previously unreachable. Late Sunday, more than 100 Israeli soldiers and other personnel arrived with plans to join rescue and recovery efforts Monday. Even before the brief suspension of rescue efforts, hope that loved ones had survived a tsunami of iron ore mine waste from Friday's dam collapse was turning to anguish and anger over the increasing likelihood that many of the missing had died. There was also mounting anger at Vale and questions about an apparent lack of an alarm system Friday. Caroline Steifeld, who was evacuated, said she heard warning sirens Sunday, but no such alert on the day the dam collapsed. "I only heard shouting, people saying to get out. I had to run with my family to get to higher ground, but there was no siren," she said, adding that a cousin was still unaccounted for. Several others made similar complaints when interviewed by The Associated Press. In an email, Vale told the AP that the area has eight sirens in the area, but "the speed in which the event happened made sounding an alarm impossible" in the dam that collapsed. "I'm angry. There is no way I can stay calm," Sonia Fatima da Silva said as she tried to get information about her son, who had worked at Vale for 20 years. "My hope is that they be honest. I want news, even if it's bad." Da Silva said she last spoke to her son before he went to work Friday, when around midday a dam holding back mine waste collapsed, sending waves of mud for kilometers (miles) and burying much in its path. She was one of dozens of people in Brumadinho who desperately awaited word on their loved ones. Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais state, said that by now most recovery efforts will entail pulling out bodies. The flow of waste reached the nearby community of Vila Ferteco and an occupied Vale administrative office. It buried buildings to their rooftops and an extensive field of the mud cut off roads. Some residents barely escaped with their lives. "I saw all the mud coming down the hill, snapping the trees as it descended. It was a tremendous noise," said a tearful Simone Pedrosa, from the neighborhood of Parque Cachoeira, 5 miles (8 kilometers) from where the dam collapsed. Pedrosa, 45, and her parents dashed to their car and drove to the highest point in the neighborhood. "If we had gone down the other direction, we would have died," Pedrosa said. "I cannot get that noise out of my head," she said. "It's a trauma ... I'll never forget." In addition to the dead, 23 people were hospitalized, according to the Minas Gerais fire department. There had been some signs of hope earlier Saturday when authorities found 43 more people alive. For many, hope was evaporating. "I don't think he is alive," said Joao Bosco, speaking of his cousin, Jorge Luis Ferreira, who worked for Vale. "Right now, I can only hope for a miracle." Vanilza Sueli Oliveira described the wait for news of her nephew as "distressing, maddening." "Time is passing," she said. "It's been 24 hours already. ... I just don't want to think that he is under the mud." The rivers of mining waste also raised fears of widespread environmental contamination and degradation. According to Vale's website, the waste is composed mostly of sand and is non-toxic. However, a U.N. report found that the waste from a similar disaster in 2015 "contained high levels of toxic heavy metals." Over the weekend, state courts and the justice ministry in the state of Minas Gerais froze about $3 billion from Vale assets for state emergency services and told the company to report on how they would help the victims. Neither the company nor authorities had reported why the dam failed, but Attorney General Raquel Dodge promised to investigate it, saying "someone is definitely at fault." Dodge noted there are 600 mines in the state of Minas Gerais alone that are classified as being at risk of rupture. Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in the same state of Minas Gerais, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes. Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded nearby rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Sueli de Oliveira Costa, who hadn't heard from her husband since Friday, had harsh words for the mining company. "Vale destroyed Mariana and now they've destroyed Brumadinho," she said. The Folia de S.Paulo newspaper reported Saturday that the dam's mining complex was issued an expedited license to expand in December due to "decreased risk." Conservation groups in the area alleged that the approval was unlawful. On Twitter, new Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said his government would do everything it could to "prevent more tragedies" like Mariana and now Brumadinho. The far-right leader campaigned on promises to jump-start Brazil's economy, in part by deregulating mining and other industries. Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill underscored the lack of environmental regulation in Brazil, and many promised to fight any further deregulation. Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and presidential candidate, said such tragedies should be deemed "heinous crimes," and that Congress should bear part of the blame for not toughening regulations and enforcement. |
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