The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster
15 Pages4264 Words40 Views
Added on 2021-06-16
The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster
Added on 2021-06-16
ShareRelated Documents
Part 3Introduction The Bento Rodrigues dam disaster which happened on 5th November 2015. This incident involved a catastrophic failure of the iron ore tailing of a dam in Miriana. The incident led to flooding in the area and destroyed the whole village of Bento Rodrigues. The disaster is considered to be the worst environmental disaster to have hit Brazil. In the disaster, more than 60million cubic meters of iron ore sludge and wastes polluted river Doce. Displacements, water pollution, environmental pollution and deaths are some of negative impacts which were able to happen due to the disaster. In addition, other neighboring villages which were in the valley were also hit with minor damages. Due to the incident, the main road access to the municipality was rendered impassible. It was noted that leakage failure was the main cause of the incident. The disaster led to different reactions from the nationals and international parties. Moreover, the disaster also led to different effects to the companies involved. The incidentBento Rodrigues dam disaster is considered as one of the worst catastrophic environmental disaster in Brazil1. In this disaster, about 60 million cubic meters of iron wastes were able to flowinto Doce River. This flow was able to cause toxic brown mudflows and therefore led to high pollution of the river. In addition, humanitarian crises happened around this time due to the disaster. Displacement of the people after the dam failure was one of the major humanitarian crises to happen. In this project, the tailings of the Fundao and Santarem dams were constructed 1Uilson Ricardo Venâncio Aires, Soares Matos Santos Bismarck, Dias Coelho Clívia, David da Silva Demetrius, and Lúcia Calijuri Maria. "Changes in land use and land cover as a result of thefailure of a mining tailings dam in Mariana, MG, Brazil".Land Use Policy.(2018). 70: 63-70.
and owned by Samarco Mineracao SA, which was a mining company. The company was locatedin Mariana municipality which is about 67 kilometers south east of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais state in Brazil2. The main aims of the tailing were to accommodate the wastes which resulted from the extraction of the iron ore from the extensive Germano mine. The incident of the failure occurred at around 3:30 pm in the afternoon of 5th November 2015. The dam started with experiencing a leak and some employees were sent to rectify the problem. They tried rectifying and maintaining the leak by deflating part of the reservoir. Rapture was able to occur at around 4:20 pm whereby a large volume of toxic sludge was released into Santarem river valley. The Bento valley which is located about 2.5 kilometers away below was completely flooded with the toxic sludge from the dam and mud3. In addition, during the investigation, it was noted that Samarco and the neighboring communities did not have the contingency plan or even the evacuation routes to avoid and mitigate such problems4. This meant that the firefighter and rescuers could not access the scene with road. The only option which was available was to access the scene through the use of helicopters5. During the incident, around 600 people were 2Silva, Reis Claudia, Maria Schwarz Andreas, and ungnickel. Katrin JEnvironmental Crisis andSocial Media A Content Analysis of Bento Rodrigues Dam Disaster Videos on Youtube. (2017).3Silva Junior da, Antonio Carlos, Dias Coutinho Andressa, Francisco de Oliveira-Júnior José, Eduardo Teodoro Paulo, Lima Mendelson, Shakir Muhammad, de Gois Givanildo, and Adriani Johann Jerry. "Analysis of the Impact on Vegetation Caused by Abrupt Deforestation Via OrbitalSensor in the Environmental Disaster of Mariana, Brazil".Land Use Policy.76: (2018) 10-20.4Costa, Karen da.. "Corporate accountability in the Samarco chemical sludge disaster".Disaster Prevention and Management.26, no. 5. (2017) 540-552.5Christofaro Silva Alexandre, Luis Carlos Duarte Cavalcante Silva, Domingos Fabris José, Franco Júnior Roberto, Morais Barral Uidemar, Mágno de Melo Farnezi Múcio, José Silva VianaAbraão, ... Carlos da Silva Luiz.. "Chemical, Mineralogical and Physical Characteristics of a Material Accumulated on the River Margin from Mud Flowing from the Collapse of the Iron OreTailings Dam in Bento Rodrigues, Minas Gerais, Brazil".Revista Espinhaço.5, no. 2: (2016). 44-53.
evacuated. The incident was able to be classified as the worst environmental disaster in Brazil from the effects and impact it had in the environment and people’s livelihood. Impacts The incident had several negative impacts, ranging from the environmental effects of livelihoods of the people. First, the dam was used as a waste and sludge storage and this meant that its burst was able to pollute the environment with the toxic chemicals. The first impact of the dam failure led to the toxic chemicals flowing into the Rio Doce River6. The river basin was reported to havea drainage basin of about 86,715 kilometers. This river was able to cover about 230 municipalities. This meant that all the people in these municipalities were able to depend on this river for their survival. The wastes and sludge from the dam were able to flow into the river and this led to its pollution. The impact of affecting the marine and people livelihood was experienced from this kind of pollution. In addition, according to scientists and biologists who studied the impact and effect of this pollution concluded that a decade will be taken in order to have the toxic substances diluted in the river7. The people had to stop the water intake from the river due to the impact of the pollution. Water shortages in major towns and municipalities were experienced when the pollution was reported to be toxic. It was noted that the mud contained high and greater number of heavy metals than the accepted levels. Arsenic, lead and mercury are some of the heavy metals which were harmful to health and were reported to be present in the water and mud after the pollution. In addition, contamination of other rivers such as the Rio 6Mongabay. "Rio Doce: The Murder of an Already Dead River (Commentary)".Mongabay News.2016-11.7Fernando,Scherner, Bastos Eduardo, Rover Ticiane, de Medeiros Oliveira Eliana, Almeida Rafael, Gabriela Itokazu Ana, Laurita Bouzon Zenilda, Rubi Rörig Leonardo, Maria Barreto Pereira Sonia, and Antunes Horta Paulo.. "Halimeda Jolyana (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) Presents Higher Vulnerability to Metal Pollution at Its Lower Temperature Limits of Distribution".Environmental Science and Pollution Research.25, no. 12: (2018). 11775-11786.
Gualaxo Do Norte was also noted and this meant that increased population was hit by the population and water shortages.In addition, the pollution did not stop at the river. Contaminated water was able to flow all the way to the southern Atlantic Ocean. On November 22, the contamination was reported to reach the Atlantic Ocean. This meant that increased population and marine lives were affected due to the dam failure8. The toxic mud was able to be reported spreading out across the Espirito Santo coat. This did not only affect the water usage also led to the closure of the business and beaches. The economic impact was felt since the people in this region could not continue with their businesses and the tourism sector was highly affected. The impact was used due to the pollution on this area, which depended on the tourism section. In addition, the wastes were reported to have reached Bahia Littoral zone on 7th January 2016. The spreading of the toxic mud meant that increased populations were feeling the impact of the dam failure9. In addition, environmental population and impact to the wildlife in Abrolhos Marine national Park is another impact which has been keenly observed. This is an important park for Brazil ecosystem10. It is able to host the major marine biodiversity in southern Atlantic Ocean. The toxic mud and minerals from the dam are considered too much harmful such that they can be able to wave away the marine ecosystem in this region. In addition, the displacements and deaths were also experienced. About 17 people were reported dead due to the failure of the dam. In addition, the dam was able to lead to the displacement of the people downstream. People’s homes were completely destroyed and people had to be 8Jalees Rehman, "Let Them Make My Cake: Exporting Burden, Importing Convenience in the Externalization Society".The Next Regeneration.(2017) 04.9 Greenpeace. "One Year Later and No Justice: Communities Affected by Dam Disaster Speak Out". Making Waves. (2016) 11.10Mongabay. "Rio Doce: The Murder of an Already Dead River (Commentary)".Mongabay News.(2016)11.
End of preview
Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.
Related Documents
CSR and Sustainability in BHP Billiton: A Critical Evaluation of Sustainability Reportslg...
|10
|2643
|485
Assignment on Business Ethics in Organizationlg...
|9
|2622
|372
Financial Reporting ACCT2006 Assignmentlg...
|5
|1137
|73
Failure of Samarco Tailings Storage Facility: A Critical Analysislg...
|17
|3498
|241
Assignment (Doc) | International Business Management in Bhp Billitonlg...
|5
|1076
|19