Brazil calculates ecological damages after the Brumadinho tragedy

The number of dead in Brazil reached 121 while the multinational responsible of the mine exploitation is protested against in Switzerland.

The consequences in terms of human lives loss of the collapse of the mine of Brumadinho in Brazil, a few weeks ago, are still open: 121 so far the people dead while over 200 are still missing.

And if the number of dead is increasing, the assessment of the ecological damages has just begun. The disaster directly affected 270 hectares destroying the area near the mine and flooding the ciudad of Brumadinho where 34,000 people lived. Of the affected area, some 190 hectares were green areas, scarcely populated but rich in vegetation.

Executives of the government-linked Brazilian Environment Institute (Ibama) said that the affected region is one of the richest in ecosystem in the world as far as biomass are concerned and that preliminary information confirmed the magnitude of the disaster. Marcelo Arim said: “This is, without any doubt, one of the biggest environmental tragedies in the world” and other experts said that years will be needed to establish the real extension of the irreparable damages to the environment.

So far, beyond the visible effects near the mine, over 45 km around the river Paraopeba give 0 oxygen level, which means that completely dead. “This - said an expert - means that we cannot even talk about water anymore. This is a true nightmare.”

Should these data and assessments be confirmed we will be facing the biggest mine disaster both in terms of human life loss and environmental impact, as recorded by the UN.

As to who is responsible for such a disaster, this is also quite clear: the tragedy is direct responsibility of the company that was exploiting the mine, the multinational VALE, the biggest producer of iron in the world, blessed by local and national authorities.

Although the disaster has affected Brazil, it is only apparently confined to that country: globalisation indeed has provoked an immediate reaction in Switzerland where the central office of the multinational is based. Hundreds of activists have organised a demonstration in front of VALE offices and urged the Swiss government to open an investigation and the review of the tax exemption granted to VALE for ten years.

Thus it appears that the responsibility is somehow shared: the governments of some developed countries should indeed respond of the disaster as well, given that they benefit from this type of exploitation, which favours the exploitation of other countries natural resources always in favor of big companies profits, without any labour regulation and safety and without any protective measures for the environment.