Brazilians living in high-risk areas now total 8 million
A survey by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) shows that 8.27 million Brazilians live in high-risk areas across 872 municipalities throughout the country. These people live in 1.47 million households. By using an unprecedented methodology, researchers have crossed data from the 2010 Demographic Census and information from the Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Warnings (Cemaden).
“This is the first time we get a picture of the population in risk areas,” IBGE Geography Coordinator Cláudio Stenner told Agência Brasil. The goal, he said, is to generate a database that can contribute to policy making in order to prevent tragedies resulting from natural disasters. “By doing that, we hope to save lives in the first place, and second to mitigate the effects of a natural disaster.”
Stenner said that this study will be conducted whenever the Demographic Census is published. Even though its data come eight years late, he added, they still play a significant role, as the demographic landscape does not change so quickly.
“We spent five years developing this methodology and producing these data. For 2020, 2022, and 2023, we’ll be able to give a much quicker response, with more up-to-date information, and a comparison with the situation in 2010 with what changed in these areas,” he added.
Tragedies
The study also unveiled an alarming number of residents in high-risk areas in municipalities with a history of storm-caused landslides. In the mountainous region just outside Rio, the city of Petrópolis was reported to have 72 thousand people—24.4% of the city’s population—living under such conditions; in Teresópolis, 45.7 thousand (28%); and Nova Friburgo 33.6 thousand (18.5%). The three cities were affected by floods in 2011, the year following that of the census on which the study is based.
The figures show that this was the biggest natural disaster of this century, with 900 people killed and over 300 thousand affected throughout the area, in addition to financial losses adding up to $1.25 billion, according to 2012 data by the World Bank.
“The devastating consequences of this incident corroborate the consensus among specialists that the magnitude of a disaster is intrinsically connected to the interplay of social, economic, and demographic phenomena, which may make the population more vulnerable to natural disasters,” Stenner argued.
Demographics and class
Stenner went on to stress that, contrary to common belief, the poorest portions of the population are not the only ones living in high-risk areas. The expert noted that, in the tragedy that took place in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, many of the people affected dwelt in condos in more well-to-do neighborhoods.
However, he continued, the urbanization of Brazilian cities took place so that wealthier citizens had access to areas with better conditions, with unfavorable locations left for poorer families to occupy, on slopes and river valleys.
