Alert
Brazil - No. 48/2008
Santa Catarina Floods
Geneva, 5 December 2008
Since 21 November heavy rainfall in the state of Santa Catarina in South Brazil caused flooding and affected close to 60 cities with more than 1.5 million people. "This is the worst climatic tragedy of Santa Catarina's history", Santa Catarina's governor said.
The most severely affected region is the Itajai Valley, which suffered from constant rains for more than two months. Water levels have risen to nine meters above normal and the rain-soaked soil caused heavy landslides throughout the whole region. As a result, at least 118 people are reported dead and more than 78,700 people have evacuated their homes. Another 150,000 people have been left without electricity. Several towns in the region are cut off due to flood waters and landslide debris. Water rationing was introduced in some towns due to purification problems. On 23 November, the mayor of Blumenau declared a state of emergency in the city.
The solidarity of Brazilian people has been enormous. This week, the Civil Defense of Saint Catarina called upon the population to temporarily stop in-kind donations, because the warehouses and centers of distributions are filled and there is no space to receive any more supplies. The Civil Defense will restart receiving in kind donations once the Regional Development offices in Criciúma and Araranguá (southern coast) and Joinville (northern coast) are ready to take in the donations.
ACT member Coordenadoria Ecumênica de Serviço (CESE), based in Salvador de Bahia, is planning to respond to this emergency during the rehabilitation phase of the emergency through its members located in southern Brazil.
Congregations of CESE's member churches are already responding to the emergency phase with their own resources and in close cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organisations. Any response of the ACT International alliance is expected for the rehabilitation phase. The Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) will be one of the implementers.
The Vale do Itajaí Synod of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), has received more than 100 tons of food, clothes, drinkable water, cleaning and hygiene materials. "The mobilisation of the Brazilian communities is very impressive", said the Synodal pastor, Rev. Mariane Beyer Ehrat.
The Civil Defense of Santa Catarina had already received until the 4 December donations to the tune of R$ 18.2 millions (US $7.6 million). The IECLB has launched a national campaign to raise funds for the affected population and opened a special bank account. By the beginning of this week close to R$ 118,000 (US $48,000) were received. All IELCB congregations were requested to earmark the collection of the next Sunday service to the emergency in Santa Catarina.
In the coming weeks, CESE members will start their plans for the rehabilitation work. ACT member Lutheran World Federation/World Service (LWF/WS) will second a staff to support the IECLB in Santa Catarina to prepare the appeal and to monitor the rehabilitation activities.
Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org).
(ends)
ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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