O Braskem mine collapse in Maceió is considered an environmental disaster. In Brazil, there were other environmental tragedies that caused many impacts, such as, for example, in the cities of Mariana and Brumadinho in Minas Gerais.
For the geography teacher at the school and Oficina do Estudante course, the collapse of the mine in Maceió is, regrettably, another example of environmental crime in Brazil, just as it was in the cities of Mariana and Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais.
In the professor's opinion, these are not accidents, they are environmental crimes, because companies, these large mining companies, as well as oil spill disasters, such as those that occurred in Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska, they know the risks involved and they know the potential for this type of event to happen.
"Often, companies act negligently and do not use the necessary strategies to avoid accidents, because they are expensive. And the compensation, after a catastrophe of this type, ends up being “cheaper” than the investment to prevent problems from happening", he analyzes.
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Remember environmental disasters in Brazil
Accident in the city of Mariana (MG) - 2015
On November 5, 2015, the Fundão dam owned by the mining company Samarco, controlled by Vale and BHP Billiton, broke, causing a large flood of mud.
The mud devastated the district of Bento Rodrigues, in the municipality of Mariana, in Minas Gerais, destroying houses and causing the death of 19 people, including residents and employees of the mining company itself. In addition to human and material losses, the mud that escaped due to the collapse of the dams caused a serious environmental impact.
Read more about the environmental impacts in Mariana (MG)
Dam failure in Brumadinho - 2019
The collapse of the Vale dam (Brazilian multinational mining company) in Brumadinho, metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, in the early afternoon of January 25, 2019, it caused a large avalanche of iron ore waste. Dam 1 at the Córrego do Feijão Mine collapsed, and the mud reached Vale's administrative area, as well as the Vila Ferteco community, leaving a huge trail of destruction and dozens of deaths.
At the time of the accident, the warning sirens were not sounded, which contributed to the large number of deaths in this tragedy, since people were not warned to adopt safety procedures security. The alarm probably didn't ring due to how quickly everything happened.
Check out more details about the environmental disaster in Brumadinho
By Silvia Tancredi
Journalist