Tragedy on the coast of SP will go down in history, says Civil Defense

Next Saturday (18), the tragedy that hit the city of São Sebastião, on the north coast of São Paulo, completes one month.

There were 65 dead and a thousand people homeless, after the heaviest rain recorded in 24 hours in the history of Brazil, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters and the National Institute of Meteorology.

A CNN Radio the director of communication for the state Civil Defense, Lieutenant Roberto Farina, stated that the case “will go down in the history of the state of São Paulo, and of Brazil.”

He explained that the Civil Defense is still working, this time to “continue the public policies that were guided and defined in the crisis cabinet.”

The lieutenant also praised the work of all the bodies that came together to work on the crisis, with more than 8 state departments, municipal, state and federal governments, the Armed Forces, the Fire Department and volunteers.

Farina reinforced that the crisis had phases: “The first was the risk situation, with welcoming people, in a second moment.”

“At the same time, we had the return of bringing back the damaged infrastructure, such as highways, water structures, sewage and electricity.”

Afterwards, it was time for psychological support for those affected.

At the moment, the phase is “post-crisis”, with advice and support management to continue the established public prevention policies.

According to Lieutenant Roberto Farina, the plan involves a number of factors, such as acquiring sirens, weather forecasts, preventive plans for summer rains, to “anticipate these catastrophes.”

“We are going to refine data and work on how the information will reach the population”, he added.

*Produced by Isabel Campos