After a court decision determining the incineration of clothes donated to victims of the rains in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, and which were rotting in a square in the municipality, now, 8,750 basic baskets sent by the Ministry of Citizenship to serve the region, are locked up. in a shed, in Mesquita, in Baixada Fluminense, a month ago.
THE CNN was at the scene this Tuesday (22) and found that the perishable foods have not yet been removed by the municipality. The baskets were made available by the ministry after a request from the mayor of Petrópolis, Rubens Bomtempo (PSB), on February 16, the day after the first storm. The authorization for the transfer of baskets took place on February 21. Sought, the city of Petrópolis has not manifested itself so far.
Together, the tragedies of February 15 and March 20 have so far left 233 dead and 620 homeless, a number that surpassed 1,200 at the most delicate moment of the tragedy.
The complaint about the baskets not removed by the municipality was made by the Petropolitan councilor Eduardo do Blog (Republicans), who asked for the interference of the Public Defender’s Office of Rio de Janeiro so that the products reach the vulnerable population. The agency confirmed having received the complaint and promised to act in the case.
“I discovered on a visit to Brasília, when I was at the Ministry of Citizenship on the 17th, that Mayor Rubens Bomtempo still hasn’t picked up the nearly 9,000 basic food baskets donated by the Ministry to the city’s population. This is cruelty to the petropolitan population. Now we have had another tragedy and the baskets are still there”, complained the councilor.
According to information obtained by CNN, only the city of Petrópolis has not yet collected the items. After a meeting held in the week of the tragedy between the Ministry of Citizenship and the social assistance secretariats of the cities affected by the heavy rains, the ministry determined the transfer of food to all affected municipalities. There were 20,000 baskets in total, almost half of which went to Petrópolis.
Since the rains on Saturday, the State Department of Civil Defense recorded 126 occurrences. Of this total, 107 were caused by landslides, a product of the accumulated rainfall of 534.6 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, according to the last update. The second storm resulted in five deaths in the city.
Video: Firefighters continue search for missing people in Petrópolis
Source: CNN Brasil
