2008 Santa Catarina floods
Encyclopedia
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in November 2008. It occurred after a period of heavy rainfall during late November 2008, most significantly during days 20, 21, 22 and 23 of November. The state suffered constant rainfalls for over two months (during late September, October, and November) on the coast, which turned the soil wet enough to cause a landslide during the storm that hit the state in late November. It affected around 60 towns and over 1.5 million people in the state of Santa Catarina
Santa Catarina (state)
Santa Catarina is a state in southern Brazil with one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. Its capital is Florianópolis, which mostly lies on the Santa Catarina Island. Neighbouring states are Rio Grande do Sul to the south and Paraná to the north. It is bounded on the east by...
in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. At least 128 people are confirmed to have been killed with over 78,700 being forced to evacuate their homes. A further 150,000 have been left without electricity, while water rationing is being carried out in at least one town due to purification problems. Santa Catarina state Governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira had earlier suggested that the final death toll was likely to be over 50, a figure that has proved optimistic. Several towns in the region have become cut off due to floodwater and landslide debris and on November 23 the Mayor of Blumenau
Blumenau
Blumenau is a city in Vale do Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. It was founded on September 2, 1850 by Dr. Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau along with 17 German immigrants. A few years later Fritz Müller migrated to Blumenau as well....
, João Paulo Kleinubing, declared a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
in the city. Water levels in the Vale do Itajaí
Vale do Itajaí
Vale do Itajaí also known as Vale Europeu is a mesoregion located in the Northeastern part of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It has about 1.3 million inhabitants and comprises four smaller regions: Blumenau, Itajaí, Ituporanga and Rio do Sul...
have risen to eleven metres above normal.
Reactions
- : United States government donated US$ 50,000 to help Santa Catarina buying food and water.
- : German government donated €EuroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
200,000 to buy food, water, hygiene material and mattress. - : Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVIBenedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
send a message to the victims, where "want to assert spiritually in this hour of pain with the families of the victims and the thousands of evacuees and homeless this huge environmental tragedy." - : The Brazilian Federal government issued a decree on November 27, 2008 releasing US$ 854 million in aid to the State of Santa Catarina.
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Santa Catarina (state) : The State Governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira has suggested that "Santa Catarina is facing its worst weather tragedy of its history" and told "BlumenauBlumenauBlumenau is a city in Vale do Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. It was founded on September 2, 1850 by Dr. Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau along with 17 German immigrants. A few years later Fritz Müller migrated to Blumenau as well....
has to be rebuilt entirely" . He also declared that the state is per 3 days in Mourning.
Blogosphere
Soon after the floods began, various blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
gers from Blumenau
Blumenau
Blumenau is a city in Vale do Itajaí, state of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. It was founded on September 2, 1850 by Dr. Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau along with 17 German immigrants. A few years later Fritz Müller migrated to Blumenau as well....
began reporting about the situation on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, providing photos, videos, forecast conditions and river levels for other people on the internet who were isolated by the floods. A site showed up on the Brazilian blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
to keep people informed and offering a channel for donations.