Two
years after the worst environmental tragedy in Brazil’s, residents
continue to recover from the devastating impacts caused by the
Samarco dam disaster, which destroyed entire towns and villages,
releasing 50 million cubic meters of iron-mining waste and toxic
sludge along the Doce River.
During
the immediate aftermath, thousands of residents from rural
communities such as Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu de Baixo were forced
to flee from their homes and relocated to temporary housing
structures in nearby city centers.
However,
most of these families have yet to receive any sort of legal
compensation for the avoidable damages caused by the Samarco iron ore
mine spill.
“I
imagined a very different future,” said Júlio César Salgado,
a displaced resident from the community of Bento Rodrigues.
Currently,
there an estimated 300 families in Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu that
remain exposed to degrading living conditions.
“My
entire life has been completely put on hold. All of my dreams,
aspirations and expectations of tomorrow have been suspended,”
resident Luzia Queiroz of the rural community Paracatu de Baixo told
Brasil de Fato.
In
efforts to achieve much needed assistance, families are engaging in
slow-moving legal battles in order to obtain basic financial
guarantees and insurance for compensation, and the use of safe
technologies for containing waste.
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