abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb
Article

28 Jan 2019

Author:
India Bourke New Statesman America (USA)

Brazil: Three years after Mariana’s disaster, Brumadinho goes through the same nightmare

See all tags

“Brazil’s 2015 dam disaster should have been a wake-up call to the world, but its survivors already feel overlooked by governments and big business”, 28 January 2019

…[T]he 2015 disaster, a dam collapse at a Brazilian mine, killed 19 people and contaminated over a thousand hectares of land near the city of Mariana, in what the then-president described as “the biggest environmental disaster” to hit the country. The tragedy now looks set to be dwarfed, however, by events at Brumadinho, where last Friday's collapse of a similar tailings dam has left at least 58 people dead and 300 missing…[T]he parallels with 2015 already provide a sobering warning of what lies ahead for survivors – from the pollution of drinking water, to long battles for compensation, and the slow ebbing of international interest. For…[Maria]…Santos, 33, whom I met with fellow survivor Douglas Krenak in the lobby of a London hotel last October, the process of recovery is an ongoing struggle, and one she feels the rest of the world has largely chosen to ignore…[I]t is not just the mining towns that are affected by such disasters. Douglas Krenak, from the Krenak indigenous community, remembers how the 2015 collapse unleashed a torrent of waste into the water system and devastated fish stocks…[“O]ne cannot fail to note that this is the second time in just a few years that a major mining disaster happens in this area and involving at least one of the same companies,” says Jorge E Vinuales, Profesor of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge. In regard to Brumadinho, Vinuales advises establishing an international fact-finding commission, consisting of both Brazilian and international commissioners, to clarify exactly what happened…[E]specially in light of President Jair Bolsonaro’s plans to cut environmental “red-tape” and open up indigenous territories to mining, if global attitudes to industry regulation don't change soon, more tragedies like Mariana and Brumadinho lie in wait…