05/08/2024
My graphic designer is Brazilian, and shared this…. If you’re able to help, or share it with those who can.
Good morning, team! I want to ask you all to send good thoughts and vibes (or prayers, if you're religious) to my fellow citizens here in Brazil.
As some of you know, I live in the southern region of Brazil, composed of three states. Paraná, my state, St. Catarina, the middle, and the furthest south that shares borders with Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul, which means "Big South River". They're living the worst catastrophe - a giant flood - they've ever seen. It affected 500 cities (mostly ruined) and 780k people. Around 85 people were killed and 120 still missing. The state is practically cut-off, since the roads have all been damaged or are underwater, and bridges disappeared, so the access is only by airplane/helicopter while the water doesn’t decrease.
The Rio Grande do Sul state is located in a region of plains inside a valley, so floods are expected, but they haven’t seen something like this since 1941. The capital, Porto Alegre has a giant river that confluences with other 2 that come from the countryside, as big as the first one. They have some wall system downtown that holds the water for up to a 3m flood, but the water went up to 7m. It rained in 3 days what was expected for 3 months. Stadiums, colleges, tribunals, and historic buildings, are all underwater. No electricity, no potable water, landslides, mud everywhere, dead animals contaminating the water, houses that look like they have been hit by a bomb or tornado - people don’t even know if they will ever have a home, a family or a job to come back to.
The whole country is mobilized and gathering donations like mattresses, clothing, pet food, and volunteers to help clean the cities that are full of mud. Of course, since Brazil is in a financial crisis, there is no public money available to help and a lot of bureaucracy. The help mostly comes from private and population initiatives, like big companies, artists, influencers, sports players, and the population in general - it's what we call a "chain of goodness".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68968987
This affects us all and I’m finding ways to contribute in my spare time. I've already gathered and delivered big sacks of spare clothing from close friends and my sister managed to gather 1k bottles of water in one day. We'll be continuing. Please pray/send good thoughts for them
At least 85 people have died in Rio Grande do Sul state and 150,000 have had to flee their homes.
