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Brazil Fears More Deaths as Rain Continues

   VOA News  15 January 2011
   Wearing  face  masks  to  prevent  infection,  people  carry  a coffin
   containing  the  body  of  a  landslide  victim  at a cemetery in Nova
   Friburgo, Brazil, 15 Jan 2011

Photo: AP

   Wearing  face  masks  to  prevent  infection,  people  carry  a coffin
   containing  the  body  of  a  landslide  victim  at a cemetery in Nova
   Friburgo, Brazil, 15 Jan 2011

   Massive  flooding  and  mudslides  in  Brazil have killed at least 591
   people,  and the country fears more rain could cause additional deadly
   landslides in the coming days.
   The  continued  bad  weather  has  hampered rescuers' efforts to reach
   people  stranded  on remote hillsides in the affected region, north of
   Rio de Janeiro. Countless bodies remain buried under mud and debris.
   Survivors  are  criticizing authorities for not providing enough help.
   The situation is being described as one of the country's worst natural
   disasters.
   Storms  earlier  this  week dumped the equivalent of a month's rain on
   the mountainous region.
   Rivers  of mud leveled houses, threw cars on top of buildings and left
   some 14,000 people homeless.
   The  hardest hit towns were Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo. Deaths also
   occurred in Petropolis and Sumidouro. Many of the dead are children.
   The  government  has  allocated some $460 million in emergency aid for
   the  affected  areas.  President  Dilma  Rousseff,  who assumed office
   January 1, visited the disaster zone on Thursday.
   Landslides  and  floods  are  common  in  Brazil, often affecting poor
   communities with shacks built on steep, unstable hillsides.
   In  January of last year, more than 50 people died in mudslides in the
   beach  town  of  Angra  dos  Reis,  and  at  least  180 people died in
   landslides last April that devastated slum communities in Rio.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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