knowledge for sustainabilityA new look at the Itajaí Valley

knowledge for sustainabilityA new look at the Itajaí Valley

First print (digital version)

São Paulo

2009

Bunge Foundation

knowledge for sustainabilityA new look at the Itajaí Valley

Jacques MarcovitchChairman

Carlo LovatelliChief Executive Officer

Cláudia CalaisSocial Responsibility Manager

Anna BarcelosCommunications Coordinator

Av. Maria Coelho Aguiar, 215 l Bloco D l 5o andar

05804-900 l São Paulo l SP

tel.: (11) 3741-1288 l fax: (11) 3741-1044

fundacao@bunge.com

www.fundacaobunge.org.br

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

Marie Curie

This book is dedicated to the people of the Itajaí Valley, whose entrepreneurship and community spirit

have been essential tools for meeting challenges.

To those who died,to those who survived,

and to those who are still to come,the heirs to a more sustainable Valley.

© Bunge Foundation 2009

Report

Simone Fonseca and Lalo de Almeida

Text

Simone Fonseca

Institutional Coordination

Anna Barcelos/Bunge Foundation

Editorial Coordination

Alexandre Bandeira/Escala Agency

Text Preparation and Revision

Denis Pierre Araki

Technical Consulting

Carlos Eduardo Cerri and Marcelo Seluchi

Art Direction and Final Art

Andrea Vilela de Almeida

Images

Historical Archives of Blumenau p.33, 34, 39, 44

Ho New/REUTERS/Latinstock p.18

Indio da Costa A.U.D.T p.112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117

Jim Reed/Corbis/Latinstock p.15

Lalo de Almeida p.21, 22-23, 42-43, 50-51, 54-55, 60-61, 62, 63, 64-65, 74-75,

78, 80-81, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90-91, 94-95, 98, 99, 102-103, 118-119, 126-127, 128

Lalo de Almeida/Folhapress p.19

Marcello Sokal/Superstock/Keystone p.14

Moacyr Lopes Junior/Folhapress p.16, 20, 46-47, 58, 59, 77

Smiley N. Pool/Corbis/Latinstock p.17

Infographics

Renan Bulgari

Translation

Maria de Lourdes Soares and Agnes Ann Puntch

Digital Version

Escala Agency

We thank all the people whodirectly or indirectly helped us

to check the contents of this book.

to feed ideas is to sustain the world

The world is aware. In various regions of the planet, extreme climatic events

signal that there is something very wrong in the way we interact with the

environment. Although humanity is not and should not be held responsible

for all the great natural disasters over the last years, a question remains: how

many deaths could have been prevented if the affected regions had counted

on better urban settlement policies for high-risk areas, better early warning

systems for disasters, better emergency action aid programs, better ways to

spread information and knowledge?

Are we prepared to live on this planet? Or are we just contributing to the

problem?

This book proposes these questions, especially in the light of one recent extreme

event in the Itajaí Valley area, in the state of Santa Catarina. The rains, floods

and landslides, which occurred in November 2008, were responsible for 70,000

homeless people and over one hundred dead. This was viewed as the greatest

climate disaster in the state’s history and one of the most serious catastrophes

in the country’s history.

It was also one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of Bunge Alimentos

(Bunge Foods) — whose headquarters are in Gaspar, one of the most affected

towns of the Itajaí Valley — and the Bunge Foundation, which takes a very active

role in the public schools of the region. During those tragic weeks in November,

we collaborators and those responsible for both organizations became directly

involved in the events. And we tried to help the national mobilization for aiding

the victims and recovering the region in different ways.

The Knowledge for Sustainability: Itajaí Valley project is the most recent

collaboration of the Bunge Foundation in this respect. With the emergency over, the victims aided, one year later there are still families living in shelters, with much to rebuild and, what is most serious, at the same risk of new floods and landslides. Thus, both the book and the documentary, as well as a seminar and a discussion series, which are part of the Knowledge for Sustainability: Itajaí Valley project, begin with the assumption that the challenge now is no longer a question of emergency, but one of structure.

Why did this tragedy happen? To what extent could the human element of the Itajaí Valley — with its lifestyle, history, cultures and agricultural practices — have contributed to this terrible event? And, especially, how to prevent new disasters? Above all, this project is mainly oriented towards the present and the future, the here and now, and from here onwards.

That was the attitude we from the Bunge Foundation took towards the challenge of sustainability in Brazil and worldwide. Valuing the past, acting in the present and contributing to a sustainable future.

Some of the proposals presented here by experts in different sciences can help to radically restructure human occupation of the Itajaí Valley. Some of them could be models for use in other similar regions, or at least as a starting point. Of course, none of them are intended to have the last word. There are different points of view, different experiences and different interests at play, but these can lead to a point of convergence.

What is important is to start the dialogue. Propose discussions. Feed ideas. This is only the first, but necessary, step for us to be prepared.

Jacques Marcovitch, Chairman of the Bunge Foundation

Sérgio Waldrich, Chairman of Bunge Alimentos (Bunge Foods)

contents

man facing nature 013

the valley 031

the weekend 053

joining forces 073

rebuilding 093

knowing to sustain 123

man facingnature

Navegantes, Santa Catarina, Brazil.Life follows its course in the Itajaí Valley.

August 28, 2005.Gulfport, Mississipi, EUA.

Hurricane Katrina approaches,twelve hours before the tragedy.

November 25, 2008.Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil.The worst climate disasterin the state’s history leavesthe country bewildered.

August 30, 2005.New Orleans, Louisiana, USA,

after the passing of Hurricane Katrina.

November 25, 2008.Farm in the Itajaí Valley.Plantations were flooded,crops were devastated, and the frightened cattle had nowhere to hide.

October 12, 2005.Caapiranga, Amazonas.

Children walk along the dry river bedof Lake of Membeca. The Amazon region

faces its worst draught in forty years.

November 25, 2008.Ilhota, Santa Catarina.The Itajaí Valley under water.

May 16, 2009.Trizidela do Vale, Maranhão.

It is the turn of the North and Northeastof Brazil to be plagued by floods

of historic proportions.

are we prepared?

THE ITAJAÍ VALLEY, IN THE STATE OF SANTA CATARINA, EXPERIENCED ONE OF THE GREATEST TRAGEDIES IN ITS HISTORY IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2008. ON THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 22 AND 23, AFTER 51 DAYS OF NEARLY CONTINUOUS RAIN, ENORMOUS LANDSLIDES AND DOWNPOURS CHANGED THE FEATURES OF THE REGION.

24

Hillsides slid down and destroyed houses, schools and hospitals. Barriers of debris fell on roads and highways, making it impossible to reach many places. Entire neighborhoods were displaced by the high speed of huge mud waves. Light and telephone poles were knocked down, leaving thousands of people without communication and in near total darkness. Rice plantations were flooded; crops were devastated, and the frightened cattle had nowhere to hide.

At the end of the following week, 49 towns were declared to be under a

state of emergency, fourteen under a state of public calamity, and Santa

Catarina counted over one hundred dead, thousands of homeless and 1.5

million people directly or indirectly affected. The scene was devastating

and the community didn’t know how to react, even with the help of the

Federal Civil Defense and the Army, which were promptly summoned to

the region.

25

One of the towns hit by this tragedy was Gaspar, on the banks of the

Itajaí-Açu River, and the headquarters of Bunge Alimentos (Bunge Foods).

The events mobilized the immediate attention of Bunge staff, which asked

for its Management Crisis Committee — formed by professionals from

the company’s various departments — to deal with employees and family

members affected by the situation. And, soon after, all company units

actively participated in donation campaigns inside the country and abroad.

Bunge became part of a national mobilization that included other companies,

governments and civil society.

At first, the actions responded to an emergency challenge, but, after some

days, it became clear that the challenge was far greater and that the emergency

was far from over. Rebuilding houses, repairing bridges, or resurfacing roads

would not be enough. More had to be done. We had to rethink the ways in

which we dealt with land, rain, river, housing, and forest issues.

26

the challenge of reconstruction

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina, whose winds reached speeds of 142.92 mph

(230 km/h), hit the southeastern coast of the United States and devastated

New Orleans, the American jazz capital, in the state of Louisiana. Seen

as the greatest climate disaster in U.S. history, it moved the whole world

and triggered a serious crisis in the Bush Administration. But the lack

of preparation for emergencies on the part of the world’s most powerful

country is a situation sadly shared by most other countries on the planet.

In the same year, the Amazon region faced its worst draught in forty years.

The region that has 15 percent of the world’s drinking water faced a desolate

scenario, with dry rivers and igarapés (small water channels that stream

off the main rivers), boats stranded on sand banks, tons of dead fish and

completely isolated populations, with no way to move around, no water to

drink, or food to eat. On October 10, the government of Amazonas declared

a state of public calamity in all municipalities. Approximately 250,000 people

were affected.

27

However, in 2009, the North and Northeast of Brazil were plagued by

continuous rains and floods of historic proportions from rivers such as

the Negro, in the Amazon region, and the Poty, in the state of Piauí. Over

600,000 people were affected in six states: Maranhão, Ceará, Piauí, Pará,

Amazonas and Bahia.

In all the cases, mobilizations for rain and flood victims were organized with

the purpose of sending food, water, medicines, furniture and other essential

goods to them. However, in all the cases, it was clear that, although essential,

the initial mobilization was not sufficient. To be effective and sustainable, it has

to be extended and changed into movements for rethinking the relationship

between man and the environment and proposing a positive and creative

agenda that combines scientific knowledge with hands-on experience. This

is so because to bring more harmony to the planet and its population of over

6.8 billion souls, we must learn to hear the messages of nature and prepare

ourselves to deal with them.

28

knowledge for sustainabilityItajaí Valley

How to go back to the Itajaí Valley’s devastated areas? What to do with the

lots of land that vanished under the landslides? Is it possible to rebuild in the

same place? What kind of crops are more appropriate for the slopes? Bananas?

Peanuts? Eucalyptus? None of the previous above? Can houses occupy the

river banks? What to do with the schools that were destroyed? And what

about the hospitals? Where to take people who are still living in shelters?

What should we do when the river rises? And when it doesn’t stop raining?

Many questions came up in the months following the tragedy. The answers

are not simple and are not yet known, but they are urgent. Less than one

year later, in September 2009, new rains stormed into the towns of the state

of Santa Catarina (and of the neighboring state, Rio Grande do Sul), when

the damages caused by floods and landslides last November had not yet

been totally repaired. Again, the answers will not come from emergency

measures. This requires a broad and deep debate among scientists, the

private sector, government and civil society so that joint solutions can be

found, which take into account the countless variables, consider the multiple

needs and rely on sustainable bases.

The challenge is enormous, but not impossible.

To help to achieve it, the Bunge Foundation created the Conhecer para Sustentar: Vale do Itajaí (Knowledge for Sustainability: Itajaí Valley)

project. As its name suggests, it starts with the culture and scientific

knowledge about the valley to arrive at proposals for a sustainable recovery

and reurbanization.

The purpose is to gather and spread knowledge and the experience of experts

from different disciplines — climatologists, geologists, biologists, urbanists

— and, based on this repertoire of skills, provide solutions that minimize the

29

social, economic and environmental impacts of the past tragedy to help us

to deal with the current situation and prevent future occurrences.

It is a project designed to last, just as the path to sustainability is long-lasting.

The initial steps have already been taken. The first step was to create a

sustainable urban development project for a neighborhood in the town of

Gaspar, which will provide shelter to many of the people who lost their

houses and those who are at risk. Undersigned by the office of architect Indio

da Costa, this project is being enabled by a partnership between Bunge, the

Bunge Foundation and Gaspar City Hall, and also with the support of other

companies and public agencies. The second step involves the publication of

this book, the launch of a documentary and a seminar cycle. These efforts are

aimed at sharing what was learned after months of reporting, featuring the

point of view and the wisdom of so many people. And the third step will be

to rebuild the Angélica Costa Municipal School in the same neighborhood,

adopting eco-efficient procedures, in 2010.

The purpose is that both the reconstruction of the neighborhood and of

the school become references for promoting successful and sustainable

practices; they should also inspire other projects, in other places, increasing

their range and helping to outline the future steps towards a more conscious

and mature relationship between man and his environment.

But, to reach our tomorrow, we must look at our origins. We must know the

path followed by the Itajaí Valley and learn from errors and achievements of

the past. Only by doing so will it be possible to pave the way for a solution

that makes sense for the region. For that, let’s go back some years, more

precisely, to the mid-nineteenth century. That is when the story we are going

to tell begins.

the valley

the man

THE FIRST YEARS

1850. ELEVEN MEN, FOUR WOMEN AND TWO CHILDREN CROSS THE ATLANTIC IN SEARCH OF THE GREAT PROMISE OF AMERICA. THEY BROUGHT IN THEIR BAGGAGE DIFFERENT SKILLS IN WOODWORKING, BRICK MAKING, WEAVING AND IRONWORKING, BUT THEY CAME TO EXERCISE A NEW PROFESSION: THEY WOULD BE THE FIRST SETTLERS OF A LAND IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL. SOME 72 DAYS AFTER LEAVING HAMBURG, GERMANY, THEY ARRIVED AT THE PORT OF BARRA, IN SANTA CATARINA. THE CALENDAR MARKED SEPTEMBER 2. ACCORDING TO REPORTS, IT WAS A SUNNY DAY.

Settlement of Blumenau, July 18, 1864.

Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau,founder of the settlement that gave origin

to the city of Blumenau, mid-nineteenth century.

35

The seventeen immigrants were hired by Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau, a German from Hasselfeld who had already been to Brazil in the name of the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in order to learn about the situation of the German settlers and study the possibility of sending new immigrants.

At that time, Europe was undergoing a deep, serious social and economic

crisis, and America’s horizons were the hope for many landless and jobless

men and women. Blumenau became especially interested and decided

to cross the Atlantic after hearing enthusiastic reports from the German

naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt, who had taken part in some expeditions

on the continent. After disembarking in Brazil, in 1848, Hermann Blumenau

visited settlements in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, among them

São Pedro de Alcântara, founded in 1829 by immigrants from his native

country. From there he went on an 80.78-mile walking tour (130 km) to

Santíssimo Sacramento do Itajaí, the current municipality of Itajaí, at the

mouth of the Itajaí-Açu River.

He had heard about the “great river” and about the fertility of its banks;

together with his fellow countryman Fernando Hackradt, he planned an

exploratory trip. Thus, guided by Ângelo Dias, of mixed Portuguese and Indian

descent, the so-called caboclo, both embarked on canoes that took them

upstream, towards the unknown. The trip was an adventure — the region

was wild and inhospitable, known only by native people and colonial scouts,

the so-called bandeirantes —, but many of these surprises and dangers were

minimized by the fact that Ângelo was both a native and a very skillful canoeist.

The Itajaí-Açu was a rush of torrential waters, fed by rivers and streams,

bordered by a thick, dense forest rich in hardwood timber. Blumenau was

fascinated and felt that he belonged here. He came back from the expedition

with an idea in mind: ask Brazil’s imperial government to grant a concession

to create a settlement.

Concession awarded, he sent for the first immigrants.

36

THE CHALLENGES OF SETTLEMENT

“For the most part, the immigrants who came to that region were not immigrant settlers: in fact, they worked in different professions. At first, it was a matter of survival and, from then on, when the land was providing the means for survival, they undertook the activities they had been trained for, and which they knew about.”

Sueli Petry, director of the Historical Archives of Blumenau

On 2nd of September in 1850, the seventeen Germans had no idea of what

lay ahead. They did not speak the local language, the men were not used

to felling trees, and the women had no idea of what to do with cassava,

yam, sweet potato, corn and the other fruits so plentiful in the new land.

Adaptation was difficult, many wild animals and countless hordes of

mosquitoes preyed on the first settlements on the banks of the Itajaí-Açu

River. Air humidity was high, and the rains were continuous. Moreover, there

were the Xokleng and Kaingang Indians, the old inhabitants of the region,

with whom the Germans were in immediate conflict.

These first experiences were so remarkable that Hermann Blumenau wrote

a kind of manual for future immigrants, describing the positive and negative

aspects of the new world. In that document of 1851, he made a set of

recommendations, spoke of the customs, of the language, of the laws, and

of the climate, talked about the problems and praised the exuberance and

fertility of the land, pointing to various possibilities for growth. His strategy

worked, as the German settlement in the Itajaí Valley attracted many

immigrants over the following years and, even before completing its first

decade of existence, there were already nearly 1,000 settlers there. Gradually,

the first generations of immigrants could finally leave behind the subsistence

activities and find work in their own professions.

According to the Encyclopedia of Brazilian Municipalities, edited by the

Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in 1860 the settlement

founded by Hermann Blumenau had a population of 947, three brickworks,

one earthenware factory, and one each for vinegar, beer, cigars, a bakery, a

sawmill, 47 sugar mills and 33 cassava flour mills.

37

But to deal with the everyday routine of private enterprise was not easy.

The same river that had been so lavish as a source of food and means of

transportation could also turn into a treacherous neighbor; the Itajaí-Açu

flooded with frightening frequency, the beginning of an over century-long

history of a tense relationship with nature. To make the situation worse, laws

were severe and taxes high. All this led to Blumenau’s decision, in 1860, to sell

his lands to Brazil’s imperial government, which was given responsibility for

settlement affairs, while he remained as settlement director. This remained

so until 1884, the year he returned to Germany forever.

His lands, which encompassed an area of 4,092.68 square miles

(10,600 km2), were broken down into 42 municipalities. His legacy of work,

unity and prosperity ended up being a kind of attribute of the region, a

unique and dynamic characteristic of its inhabitants for many generations.

As Blumenau returned to his home country, Belgian, Polish, Russian, and

especially peasants from northern Italy traveled in the opposite direction

and landed in Brazil, on a journey towards the promised lands of the Itajaí

Valley.

The addition of new faces and cultures would introduce a mélange of

features to the Valley. Gradually, subsistence crops gave way to rice, peanut,

tobacco and sugar cane plantations. The textile industry took off, and the

towns grew in the wink of an eye.

And, from the mid-twentieth century onwards, economic development grew

enormously and produced equally impressive results. Timber companies

intensified the logging of the hardwood timber that had fascinated the

pioneers so much. The forest began to disappear, and today only 7 percent

of its original coverage remains. Land occupation was not done in a proper

way and invaded high-risk areas. The Itajaí-Açu River floods became more

dangerous, and the population became more dense everywhere. Houses,

condominiums, buildings and banana plantations climbed the hillsides.

Until the hillsides came down.

the river

FROM HEADWATERS TO FLOODS

DURING THE WHOLE PROCESS OF OCCUPATION AND SETTLEMENT, THE ITAJAÍ-AÇU RIVER WAS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO THE IMMIGRANTS. AS THE FORESTS WERE VERY THICK AND THE SOIL VERY ROUGH, THE RIVER WAS THE SAFEST MEANS OF TRANSPORTING CARGO AND PASSENGERS, OF EXPLORING NEW AGRICULTURAL AREAS OR LOOKING FOR NEW SPACE TO LIVE AND WORK. AT THAT TIME, THE MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO RISKED THEMSELVES IN THE TORRENTIAL WATERS DID NOT HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE SIZE OF THE HYDROGRAPHIC BASIN THEY WERE SAILING.

Blumenau, November 15, 1879.

40

Today we know that: from its three main headwaters, in the Serra Geral Mountain Range — in the municipalities of Rio do Campo, Papanduva and Alfredo Wagner — until it meets the sea, at the border of the towns of Itajaí and Navegantes, the largest hydrographic basin in the state of Santa Catarina runs approximately 124.27 miles (200 km). The largest water course in it is the Itajaí-Açu River, formed by the meeting of the Itajaí do Oeste and Itajaí do Sul rivers, in the municipality of Rio do Sul, and fed by over fifty rivers and streams along the distance.

Santa Catarina’s basins are relatively small, when compared to other Brazilian

basins. The exception is the Itajaí-Açu River basin, whose area is three times

wider than that of the others in the same state. And, because its headwaters

and main rivers form in higher areas, the waters hit the low-lying areas with

great speed.

The Itajaí Valley floods were first recorded at the time of the first human

settlements in the region, in the nineteenth century. According to Sueli Petry,

director of the Historical Archives of Blumenau, “we have recorded over 80

floods above 32.81 feet (10 m) over 158 years. That is to say, one every two

years. It is one of the broadest environmental issues with losses that can be

counted.”

The first great flood in the Valley took place in 1852 and, since then,

periodically, the Itajaí-Açu River has been leaving its bed with frightening

force and speed. In 1911, it rose 55.44 feet (16.90 m), causing enormous

41

damage in the Blumenau region. In 1983, the floods lasted for fifteen days,

with the river reaching 50.33 feet (15.34 m). Recorded losses: fifty dead,

250,000 homeless and two-thirds of the state under water, with a total of

2.5 million people affected.

Close and frequent contact with floods taught the population important

lessons. The Civil Defense from the state of Santa Catarina, considered one

of the most efficient in Brazil, developed a warning system for river town

populations that varies according to the rise of the river water level. When

the waters reach a certain level, people have to leave their houses. This

procedure worked during the 1987 and 1998 floods, a period in which no

deaths by drowning were recorded.

That was why the residents apparently knew what to do when heavy rains

fell on the weekend of November 22 and 23, 2008. Those living close to the

river moved to higher places. Those living on the hillsides checked the rising

water level along the river and looked with astonishment at the water falling

from the skies. For weeks there was no respite from the rain falling on the

Itajaí Valley.

But, differently from other years, this time the problem was not just with

the river.

42

Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

“In those days before tragedy, it rained intensely; it rained a lot. It’s enough to say that here in Blumenau it rained around 19.69 inches (500 mm) in 48 hours. Some even say that it rained 27.56 inches (700 mm) in the Morro do Baú neighborhood in 48 hours. Nearly half the region’s yearly total rainfall. We are talking about half a year’s rainfall in 48 hours. The soil was already soaked. With such an overload of weight, there was no more room for water to be absorbed; the forest could not absorb more water; banana plantations could not absorb more water; and urban areas could not absorb more water. Why? Because the soil was completely soaked”

Juarês Aumond,geologist and professor of the Regional University of Blumenau (FURB)

the greatest floods

of the Itajaí-Açu River

YEAR Feet (Meters) above normal level

1852 53.48 (16.30)

1855 43.64 (13.30)

1868 43.64 (13.30)

1880 56.10 (17.10)

1891 45,28 (13.80)

1911 55,45 (16.90)

1927 40.35 (12.30)

1954 40.29 (12.28)

1957 42.19 (12.86)

1961 39.96 (12.18)

1973 40.16 (12.24)

1980 42.72 (13.02)

1983 50.33 (15.34)

1984 50.72 (15.46)

1992 41.99 (12.80)

2008 36.15 (11.02)

1911

1927

1957

1961

1973

1983

1984

45

THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE VALLEY

Due to its geological and geomorphological features, the Itajaí-Açu basin

occupies a territory prone to floods. Surrounded by mountain ranges on

every side, it is a water course escorted by continuous mountain faces

until reaching the sea. The Serra Geral Mountain Range establishes the

limits from west to south; the Moema and Jaraguá Mountain Ranges are

to the north, and the Boa Vista, Faxinais and Tijucas Mountain Ranges are to

the southeast.

The basin accounts for 16.5 percent of Santa Catarina’s territory, which has a

population of over one million people. The climate is subtropical, with a hot,

very humid summer and high incidence of rain.

46

November 25, 2008, Ilhota, Santa Catarina.

“The fact that the headstreams of the Itajaí-Açu River are at the Serra Geral Mountain Range produces a great hydrological impact as this serra — which reaches an altitude of 2,296.59 feet (700 m) — acts as a protective fence to retain the moisture coming from the ocean. On the face of the mountain range, the air rises, cools and condenses out moisture, which forms clouds and abundant rain precipitation. And as there is a mountain range there, the water falls rapidly, then sudden outburst floods in the valley of the Itajaí-Açu River are an absolutely common phenomenon.”

Carlos Nobre,climatologist from the Brazilian National Space Research Institute (INPE)

From a topographic point of view, most of the Itajaí-Açu basin area is rough,

and the valley mountains have a great amount of earth over their rock. That

is, soil thickness is very deep, reaching up to 131.23 feet (40 m), a result that

reflects the changes in the rock itself over the centuries. The slopes are very

steep and hollow; the V-shaped valleys, deep (1). As a result, when it rains,

much water is concentrated within these funnels.

Over the course of time, with a lot of water falling upon the sandy earth,

the soil gradually became more and more saturated and unsteady (2). The

situation was further worsened by deforestation (2a), by the quick and

uncontrolled occupation of slopes, by inadequate housing construction (2b)

and improper soil tilling, as banana growing (2c), for example, whose roots

don’t usually go deep and have little tenacity. All this ended up leaving the

earth even more vulnerable than nature had made it.

(1)

49

(2)

(2c)

(2a)

(2b)

51

With the rain volume on that weekend — rains lasted for 33 hours, reaching 124 percent over the historical average for the entire month of November —, the soil gave in and collapsed. Waves of mud invaded the valley.

And waves of mud leave tracks.

the weekend

54

Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

“Everything began with the school collapse. It was the Angélica Costa School, which I had closed down 24 hours before the great landslide. It had 210 students. Three classrooms had already been closed since March because the hillside behind it was moving. But on Friday they called me because the hillside had continued to move...”

Luiz Mário da Silva,Civil Defense Director in 2008

56

saturday, november 22, 2008

On first sight there was not much to worry about. After all, the Itajaí-Açu

River was only 12.01 feet (3.66 m) above its normal level. For a river that

had already risen 55.77 feet (17 m), that was not much. What was more

upsetting was the persistence of rain. There was no respite for nearly two

months. And to make things worse, weather forecasts were not good for

that Saturday morning. The main weather forecasting agencies warned of

more heavy rain throughout the weekend. A cyclonic vortex formed on the

upper levels of the atmosphere was on the way; it would join forces with

an anticyclone that had remained stationary offshore for days, between Rio

Grande do Sul and Uruguay. It would be a meeting of two phenomena that

do not cause much damage separately, but, together, they can send down

a lot of water from the sky.

People from the Civil Defense of Santa Catarina were on alert. Small landslides

occurred everywhere, and the few telephone lines in municipal offices rang

non-stop, with requests for help and information.

A little over a week earlier, part of a hillside had tumbled down onto a

place called Sertão Verde, in Gaspar, hitting the Angélica Costa Municipal

School. Firefighters had already evacuated the school, before the children

could suffer any harm.

On Thursday 20, it was a slope in the municipality of Benedito Novo that

collapsed on a shed, also without victims. And, in the early morning between

Friday and Saturday, a gas leak had opened a crater on the BR-470 highway’s

asphalt, shutting down the gas supply, causing a fire in an empty house, and

closing off the federal highway.

57

Sergeant Evandro did not stop even for a moment. His voice, usually full of

energy, sounded weak from over exhaustion and his face was marked by

dark circles under the eyes. He had not slept a wink the previous night; he

was worried about the weather forecasts and the possibility of flooding from

the Itajaí-Açu River. Like most of the inhabitants of towns like Blumenau,

Gaspar, Itajaí and others in the valley, he was aware of the level of the river.

He knew how the scenario could get worse, if the river rose higher. He was

used to emergency situations. He had already witnessed many floods and

landslides in his job, but what he didn’t know was that the worst tragedy

ever faced by the Civil Defense of Santa Catarina was just beginning.

At the end of Saturday morning, the river started to rise and reach an alarming

level. Close to midday, the river was 13.62 feet (4.15 m) above its usual level.

At three p.m., the water level reached 16.40 feet (5 m). Ideas were quickly

exchanged and firefighters led by Sergeant Evandro went on a mission to

ask people who lived close to the river to leave their houses and move to

safe places. They were instructed to avoid the areas at risk of flooding and

landslides, plus places that offered little or no protection against lightning

and strong winds. Another important recommendation was for them to be

aware of forewarning signs, such as strange noises, tree decline, and soil

movement or cracks.

While people reflected on where to go and what to take with them, TV and

radio stations from Blumenau and Gaspar sent reporters and cameramen

out on the streets in search of some emergency to record and to help the

population whenever possible. At that moment, they went beyond the usual

media role and became the right arm of the Civil Defense itself. Reporter

Jota Aguiar, from Sentinela do Vale radio station, was one of the players

in this story. He served as volunteer firefighter, helping to rescue people;

later he published a book with the stories he had heard and the images he

had recorded. But this happened months later. At that moment, as daylight

dwindled, the rains grew stronger.

At the end of the afternoon, the Itajaí-Açu River overflowed the dams and,

in a few hours, rose 36.08 feet (11 m) above its normal level.

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At six p.m., a strong downpour caused a hillside in Belchior and another

in Morro do Baú, neighborhoods of Gaspar and Ilhota, respectively, to

collapse. And, all of a sudden, little by little, hillsides, slopes and barriers of

debris vanished, one by one, into huge waves of water, mud and rock. And

taking with them everything in their way: crops, light poles, bridges, houses,

animals and people.

At day’s end, the tragedy was set off. 746 people were forced to leave their

houses, either because they had been destroyed, or because they were in

areas of risk. 43 municipalities were hit very hard.

November 27, 2008.Blumenau, Santa Catarina.

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Still on Saturday, Santa Catarina State Governor Luiz Henrique da Silveira

declared a state of emergency and, some hours later, a state of public

calamity.

In the Civil Defense classification system, emergency situations mean legal

recognition by public authorities of an abnormal situation brought about

by natural disaster, with damages that can be overcome by the community.

A state of public calamity is also an abnormal situation brought about by

natural disaster, but with serious damage to the community, compromising

security and threatening people’s lives.

November 26, 2008.Itajaí, Santa Catarina.

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Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

“It seemed a Hollywood movie. You see that silence, only some dogs barking, no one around, and us searching, searching... Clothes hung up there, everyone left quickly. That got my attention because the road had now become a crater on the side from where we came; the same thing happened 49.21 feet (15 m) ahead; at that moment, I felt completely isolated from the world, me and my staff.”

Sergeant Evandro,Civil Defense of Gaspar

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The Silva family had been warned by firefighters to leave Sertão Verde. They

lived in a wooden house painted light green, raised on stilts, the so-called

palafitas, with two rooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen and the so-called

“washing” area, the way local people refer to the area where clothes are

washed. It had been raining continuously for nearly two months and, on that

Sunday, it was no different. Part of the Angélica Costa Municipal School,

which was just behind the house, had already fallen and the hillside could

collapse at any moment. Mr. José could not sleep well with the noise of high

winds, strong rains, and tree branches breaking continuously. At daybreak

he would go to the house of some acquaintance. The question was: where

to go? All the places he knew were drenched, covered in mud, and difficult

to access. His wife and five children were worried. At midday, he heard a dry

the Silva family

63

bang and suddenly he realized that he was floating on a sea of mud. So, all of

a sudden. It seemed a nightmare. Part of the hillside had collapsed and taken

the house, the furniture, the dishes, and the documents with it. Everything

in a matter of seconds. He thought of his family. He looked sideways

and saw the wife, a son, and a daughter; he counted four. What about

the youngest daughter? It seemed an eternity until he found his small

three-year-old girl, nearly drowned. He slapped her on the back to expel

the water; the girl coughed, cried and, then, the family joined hands

together and, with patience, all of them were able to escape. His wife

carried the youngest on her lap and some documents she was able to save.

Daiane, the oldest daughter, was able to take two pans and a mug. It was

all that remained.

The house destroyed and the school transformed into a shelter:nightmare and new beginning.

sunday, november 23, 2008

NELSON RODRIGUES, A BRAZILIAN WRITER BORN IN THE STATE OF PERNAMBUCO, WAS AT THE MARACANÃ STADIUM, ON JULY 16, 1950, THE DAY IN WHICH BRAZIL LOST THE SOCCER WORLD CUP TO URUGUAY. SOON AFTER THE WINNING GOAL GAVE THE TITLE TO OUR RIVAL, NELSON SAID THAT “THERE WAS A DEAFENING SILENCE” IN THE WHOLE STADIUM. A MIXTURE OF INCREDULITY AND SHOCK. THIS SAME SILENCE ENVELOPED THE ITAJAÍ VALLEY ON THAT NOVEMBER 23, 2008.

66

the Sunday dawned silent and still.

People could not believe what they saw. Streets turned into rivers,

hillsides fractured, houses hanging in the air, roads vanished, gas stations

raised 13.12 feet (4 m) off the ground, rice plantations submerged,

hundred-year-old trees snapped as if they were pieces of kindling,

animals terrified, men, women and children lost.

In the Civil Defense office, it was another night without sleep. Besides the

local Fire Department, the Army was also fully engaged. Many military

officers were involved in high-risk rescues; others tried to organize requests

for help that came through fixed telephone lines, cell phones, and reporters

from Galega TV, FURB TV, and radio stations which were broadcasting 24

hours a day. But it was difficult to define priorities.

The Brazilian Civil Defense follows a code which establishes that in emergency

situations, the places affected are to be divided into four areas of distinct

colors. Nobody is allowed to enter the black area because of the risk of

imminent death. In the red area, only authorized personnel are allowed,

that is, members of Civil Defense, the Fire Department and the Army; in the

yellow area, access is restricted; and, finally, the green area guarantees free

access to all.

Many of the areas affected in the Itajaí Valley were classified as black areas.

Numerous firefighters, soldiers, sergeants, lieutenants, and volunteers went

to these places to rescue possible survivors. They are the anonymous heroes

who emerge in every tragedy.

As the hours passed, aid from other states started arriving. São Paulo and

Minas Gerais sent helicopters. Rio Grande do Sul sent a semi loaded with

mattresses, blankets, food, medicines, and cleaning materials. The Federal

Government made available two Air Force aircraft loaded with supplies.

There was no sign that the rain would end.

Santa Catarina made headlines in the Brazilian press. Climatologists met to

discuss and analyze the weather phenomena responsible for the catastrophe.

Biologists and geologists did the same. The streets, roads and alleys of the

67

Itajaí Valley were full of stories about people that experienced moments

that seemed more like an action movie.

Near midday, at the request of a telecommunications company, Juarês

Aumond, a geologist and professor with the Regional University of Blumenau

(FURB) left his house in Blumenau to assess the risk of the transmission tower

falling. He made a detailed report on tower conditions and his adventure

began upon his return to the town.

I was coming back via Gaspar, driving very slowly because I couldn’t see even 16.40 feet (5 m) in front of me. As I crossed the downtown area, I saw that the hillside where the church is located had disappeared and become a huge waterfall. Then I became aware that there was no paved road anymore. I looked at the sides and saw a sea of yellow water; I began to worry and sped up, trying to follow a straight line. Further on, hillsides began to collapse in front of me. They were streams of mud. I then drove the car, zigzagging to escape the mud flowing down the slope. At a certain moment, a light truck appeared, moving in the opposite direction. The driver said: “Don’t go any further because you’re not going to get through”, I answered: “In that direction you won’t get through either!” But if we stayed there, both of us would be buried. He then followed his route and I, mine. When I arrived in Brusque, nothing else could be done; I was detained in a kind of island formed at the entry of the completely flooded town. I was stuck there for six hours waiting for the water to recede so that I could finally go back to Blumenau.

During the time Professor Juarês was stuck in his car, the cell phones of

the members of the Management Crisis Committee of Bunge Alimentos

(Bunge Foods) rang continuously, advising each other of the need to find

a strategy of action. The committee is formed by key people from various

departments, who can be contacted to solve crisis and emergency situations

at any time – day or night – including weekends and holidays. It is a diverse

group of people coming from all the fifteen units of the company in Brazil

and its members are empowered to make important decisions. In Gaspar,

this group is especially active due to the historical background of floods

in the Itajaí-Açu River. The first step was to check if there had been fatal

victims among employees. With a negative answer, the next step was to

ensure safety in the factories and to deliver material and psychological help

68

to employees who had lost family members or their homes. Soon after, help

was extended to the whole community.

At the end of Sunday afternoon, the municipal shelters were already

crowded with victims of the rain. When the municipal department heads

noticed that facilities would be insufficient for the number of people, school

buildings were reserved. Until that moment, there were approximately

7,000 victims who, all of a sudden, had to leave their comfortable houses

and suddenly take up quarters in classrooms, together with people they

had never seen before.

At 9 p.m., the second gas leak took place on the BR-470 Highway. But

now it was much stronger than that of Saturday morning. The noise was

maddening and damage worse still. The asphalt broke up and traffic was

interrupted. Part of the state was completely isolated, without light, gas, or

telephones. An island in the midst of the storm. The weekend ended with

Brazil in bewilderment.

At the same time, 500 military troops or 500 military personnel, sent by the

Federal Government, were arriving in Santa Catarina. They brought four

aircraft, seventeen trucks and twelve boats.

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the days after

Between November 20 and 24, approximately 300 billion liters of water fell

on the Itajaí Valley, an amount sufficient to supply the entire city of São Paulo

for three months. Just for comparison, if this volume of water were poured

into a tower with a square meter base, the construction would have to be

186,411.36 miles (300,000 km) high — nearly the distance between the

Earth and the Moon. It was too much water for the soil to hold, especially

a sandy soil that had been soaked during so many days of rain.

Until the end of the first week, about 4,000 landslides had been recorded

in the entire state. The number of homeless — including those who lost

their houses and those who could not return to them — reached 70,000.

The number of fatal victims surpassed the three-digit mark. About 63 of

the 293 municipalities in the state were affected, among which fourteen

towns, including Gaspar and Blumenau, were declared under a state of

public calamity. With the Port of Itajaí paralyzed, Brazil lost about 370

million reais (R$) in exports.

At the time, nobody knew how long the situation would last. But, in the

midst of all these infinite and irretrievable tragedies, there was hope.

A feeling of solidarity was present, its greatness, as always, manifesting

itself in donations coming from all over Brazil; in volunteer actions that

helped in the rescue operations, in the transportation of people, and in the

entertainment of children in shelters; in the alliance among governments,

companies and civil society. So there were strong reasons to believe in

better days ahead.

what to do during floods or landslides

Waste

• Wheneverpossible,useboxes,newspapers and other paper for collecting waste material, later dumping them into holes especially opened for this purpose

• Keepwaste(feces,urineandgarbage) from contaminating water, food and people

• Incaseofbuildinganemergencytoilet, dig a 31.49-inch-wide hole with a depth between 3.280 and 6.561 feet (80 cm and 1 to 2 m)

• Thisholemustbecoveredwithboards for foot support, and have a surrounding protection for preventing rainwater from entering

Garbage

• Garbagemustbecollectedincontainers placed at designated trash collection points

• Assoonastheyarefull,theymustbe dumped in previously prepared holes in the ground and covered with soil

• Remember:thecorrectdisposalofgarbage will prevent flies, rats and cockroaches from emerging, and, thus from transmitting diseases

• Inplaceswhereregulargarbagecollection service is not available, garbage disposal will meet the criteria established for shelter care

Food

• Don’tconsumefoodthathasbeenexposed to flood waters

• Avoidconsumingrawfood

• Boilfoodsfor10minuteswheneverpossible

• Optfortheuseofsmokedandsaltedproducts, canned food in general, sweets and pickles

• Checkifcannedfoodhassomechange in quality, such as a change of color, smell or taste. In case of doubt, it is best not to eat the food

• Avoidpackagingwithoutlabeloridentification, reject packaging that is broken, creased, rusted or stuffed

• Fruitsandvegetablesshouldbe left to soak and washed with water containing sodium hypochlorite (5 drops for each liter of water), if they are not to be cooked

Follow Civil Defense official bulletins through radio and TV stations, which will keep you informed about the levels of the river and procedures to be adopted.

If your house is hit, or if it is in a place where there are already flood forecasts, do as follows:

Gather food, clothes and documents, and take them to a safe place.

Start removing furniture and more useful appliances like stoves and refrigerators.

Find the Civil Defense shelter of your region, taking with you food for 24 hours, dishes and knives, forks and spoons, portable mattresses, bedclothes and pillows, clothes and material for personal hygiene, medicines and objects of personal use (glasses, hearing aids, dentures, etc.).

Occurrence of Landslides or Collapses

• Leaveyourhousequickly

• Askforthehelpoffriends and neighbors

•Dependingontheseriousnessof the situation, call the Fire Department or the Civil Defense

• Ifyoudiscoverthatyourhouse is safe, remove all debris and start repairing the damages

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Care To Be Taken When Returning Home

• Checkcarefullywhetheryourhomeis fit to live in (cracks, pillars, etc.)

• Payspecialattentionwhenremoving furniture, since snakes and other poisonous animals frequently invade houses

• Checkandcleanoutthecesspools

• Beforeturningonelectricpoweragain, clean and dry circuit breakers, switches, plugs, connecting plugs, lamps and domestic appliances

Water Tank Cleaning

• Emptythewatertank

• Sprinkleandbrushthewallswithsodium hypochlorite

• Letthecleanwaterflowintothetank, rinsing the walls

• Removethewater

• Fillthewatertanktothetopandadd sodium hypochlorite in the proportion of 1 liter per every 1000 liters of water

• Openallfaucetsandstopcockstosanitize the piping

• Assoonasthewatertankempties,refill it with clean water.

• Ifthewaterisnottreated,adda10g chlorine tablet per each water tank of 1000 liters

Drinking Water

• Ifthewaterisnottreated,boil it for 15 minutes

• Collectrainwaterinacleanreceptacle for consumption

• Totreatwater,useoneofthesolutions below:

a) sodium hypochlorite: 2 drops per each liter of water

b) a chlorine tablet, which can be found in public health clinics

Dead Animals

• Burythemwheneverpossible

• Ifthenumberofdeathsistoohigh, spread lime over the animals’ corpses and then cover them with earth

• Iftheyarealreadyinanadvancedstate of decomposition, you can burn the corpses, spreading ethanol or gasoline over them and setting fire to them.

• Important:intheeventoffindinghuman corpses, immediately notify the Police and the Fire Department (telephones: 190/193) or the nearest authority

Safety against Lightning

• Keepawayfromcentralheatingunits and large metallic objects

•Don’tuseappliancessuchas:irons,hairdryers, TV sets, telephones, etc.

•Don’tgetnearwirefences,metalclotheslines, telephone and power lines, metal plumbing, and towers or electric networks

•Onthestreet,lookforshelterinbuildings or non-metallic structures

•Ifyouareworkingwithatractororother agricultural implements, stop and look for shelter

•Stayinsidethecarwhenonatrip

•Incasethereisnoshelternearby,liedown on the ground

•Keepawayfromthetopofhillsidesor open areas

joining forces

where to begin?

IT WAS A MOUNTAIN OF SHOES. OF ALL COLORS, TYPES AND SIZES. OF LEATHER, SUEDE, WITH BUCKLES, TENNIS, BOOTS, AND WELLINGTON BOOTS AS WELL. CLOSE BY, A LARGE NUMBER OF BLACK PLASTIC BAGS, WHICH HELD BLOUSES, SKIRTS, DRESSES, SWEATSHIRTS, COATS, SWEATERS, TROUSERS, SHORTS, PAJAMAS, SOCKS, MORE ARTICLES OF CLOTHING THAN ONE COULD IMAGINE.

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With the roads closed off, the first batch of donations was shipped by air — by helicopter and cargo aircraft — but when the highways opened, they began to be transported by semi trucks.

The tragedy in Santa Catarina triggered an overwhelming, organized

movement of solidarity. It was quickly formed into an intricate network of

collective aid that translated into shoes, clothes, food, and money in cash.

As of Friday, November 28, 2008, the bank accounts opened in the name

of the Itajaí Valley victims accounted for over 3 million reais (R$).

On Tuesday, November 25, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva flew over

the region and, looking with astonishment at the images before him,

announced an aid package of 1.049 billion reais (R$) for reconstruction of

roads, bridges and other items of public infrastructure. He also facilitated

withdrawals from the FGTS (Severance Pay Fund) and credit lines for

reconstruction of houses. And he sent 278 tons of food by Hércules aircraft

from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), in flights from Brasília, the Federal

District, to Santa Catarina. At Navegantes Airport, which serves the Itajaí

Valley region, over fifty volunteers were ready to help the military forces

unload the food.

Municipal mayors and department heads tried to establish priorities. At

that moment and faced with such a scenario, everything was a matter of

the utmost urgency. People in the shelters needed not just physical and

material help, but especially psychological support. At the same time, the

streets and roads needed to be opened so that traffic could flow again,

ensuring access to isolated regions and neighborhoods. Also the light and

communication poles that had been knocked down by the rains had to be

rebuilt. And then there was a need to dredge the streams and to deliver

more medicines and beds to the hospitals to care for so much people.

November 25, 2008.Ilhota, Santa Catarina.

The Brazilian Air Force arrives on the scene.

December 18, 2008.Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

The challenge of making aid reachnearly inaccessible places.

79

Where to begin? That was the question many mayors asked themselves.

They decided to set out two parallel lines of action priorities: first, to insure

basic care to people in the shelters and, secondly, to open roads and streets.

Machines began operating, as soon as the rains lessened, trying to clean

up all that mud from the landscape.

As for the shelters, city governments contacted companies of the

regions and asked for donations and transportation. Thus, an alliance

was established among various businessmen to deliver essentials directly

into the hands of over 70,000 homeless people.

Bunge Alimentos offered its sports gymnasium in Gaspar to store the

donations that came from everywhere, including those from other company

units all over Brazil. Its logistics network was directed to transporting all

material to the two shelters in Gaspar, to the 35 in Blumenau, and to

others in neighboring towns.

Volunteers were active wherever necessary. A nurse made her own house

feel like a medical facility for those rescued from flood waters. Even standing

ankle deep in water, she provided first aid and fed the homeless, before

they went to the shelters. A fisherman used his boat to make rounds on

the flooded streets to help rescue people and animals. A teamster went

to a local radio station to announce that his truck was at the disposal

of the community. Luiz Hostins, a lover of off-road trails and member of

the Jeep Club of Brazil, lent his 4×4 car, his courage and his knowledge of

the region’s trails to help many firefighters and military officers to reach

places that people would swear were inaccessible. Bunge Alimentos

(Bunge Foods) employees came early to the sports gymnasium to help

in the difficult job of sorting out: trying to match pairs of socks and

shoes, which at that point were totally separated from one another.

A 16-year-old student from Rio de Janeiro deposited his monthly allowance

into the account opened for the people of Santa Catarina. A businesswoman

from Ribeirão Preto, in São Paulo, donated fifty large bottles of drinking

water. And, in the capital city of São Paulo, SOS Santa Catarina was

organized with shows by musicians such as Ed Motta, Chico César and Leci

Brandão; the price of admission would be a liter bottle of mineral water

or a blanket.

Thus, with seemingly disconnected actions, a giant and invisible network among unknown people was formed. A net that was woven by sharing a decision: to do the best to help. Millions of people were involved. Men and women of different professions and lifestyles. Physically close or distant. Civil society, the private sector and government agencies joined forces as they had only a few times in Brazilian history.

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Mônica Shelter, Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

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above the differences

Between October 5 and 26, 2008, new mayors and city council members

were elected throughout Brazil. In Santa Catarina this situation proved

especially complex. In the end, new local government officials were elected

in many cities and the mayors who had been making decisions in the name

of the population would be replaced by those newly elected who would

only take office on January 1, 2009. This was a period of political transition

in the midst of a time of fundamental definitions for the Itajaí Valley.

Pedro Celso Zuchi, the elected mayor of Gaspar at the time of the tragedy,

was forced to rethink everything planned for the city for the next four years.

During the first week after the tragedy, he convened his team of trusted

advisors and together they reviewed the strategy of their government

program in the light of the events. What would the reconstruction plan

be? Faced with so many priorities, what should be done first? How could

the city budget be reallocated taking reconstruction needs into account? At

the same time, Zuchi, of the PT (Workers’ Party) offered then-mayor Adilson

Schmitt of the PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) his help and

solidarity. At that moment, the initiatives went beyond partisan politics: they

were the citizens of Santa Catarina who had come together to think about

future possibilities for the city they share.

This unity beyond political party affiliation also extended to the mayors of

other municipalities, who found opportunities for common solutions in this

dialogue experience. At the same time, the state governor, Luiz Henrique da

Silveira (PMDB), found support from his peers in other states, as well as from

the Federal Government.

Meanwhile in Blumenau, another alliance of adversaries was shaping up to

help face the tragedy. On Monday, November 24, 2008, the telephone of

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Galega TV director rang. The call was from rival FURB TV director, proposing to

create a TV and radio solidarity network that would unify broadcasting and

optimize reporting and equipment allocations to extend the area of coverage.

The request was accepted immediately, and the two broadcasting stations

joined with TV Legislativa to create a chain of stations, which became arms of

Civil Defense and of the press offices of the city governments, broadcasting

official news releases and passing on requests for help from the population.

They began to broadcast 24 hours, alternating studios and announcers.

To achieve complete coverage, reporters spent sleepless nights away from

home and because damage to antennas prevented some live transmissions,

many professionals used their cell phones as broadcasting devices. In their

search for news, many went into areas of risk alongside the Army, Civil

Defense and Fire Department personnel, putting their lives in danger to save

those of other people.

Jota Aguiar, a reporter from Sentinela do Vale radio station and a volunteer

fireman, collected so many stories that he wrote a book, Relatos de uma

tragédia (Reports of a Tragedy), which, as its name suggests, contains moving

stories from people who lived through the events of November 2008. In one

of the accounts, Sentinela do Vale Director Leopoldo Miglioli reports that

they spent 211 uninterrupted hours on the air, nearly nine days worth.

Simultaneously, sites and blogs were constantly being created to pass on

information, organize donation campaigns, suggest traffic routes, report on

road conditions and closely follow the first steps in reconstructing the Itajaí

Valley. For the first time in the region, the alternative media served as an

effective source of information to bring people together and broadcast to

the world what was happening there.

Life in shelters:after the tragedy,frailty and waiting.

85

Mônica’s shelter

Ana Maria spends most of her time alone, seated in a corner. When asked

why she is sad, she answers that she misses her dolls. Amanda, a talkative,

lively blonde comes over and shows the girl her colored wax chalk drawing.

“This is me, this is my dog and this is my house”. On the paper, in addition

to what she described, there is a huge sun that takes up half the sheet.

Ana tries out a small smile. Amanda reaches out her hands and invites her,

“Want to paint?”

Ana Maria and Amanda are in Mônica’s Shelter, currently housed at the

Norma Mônica Sabel Basic Education School, in Gaspar. It has been four

months since the tragedy. Families share the classrooms. Curtains made

from sheets and held with masking tape cover the windows to keep out

the light, and there, among the donated mattresses, pillows, bedspreads

and clothing, the mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandparents and

children spend their nights listening to battery-powered TV and radio kept

on 24 hours, sometimes simultaneously. To delimit the territory reserved for

each family, furniture or lined-up desks are sometimes used as partitions.

Women take turns preparing meals in the kitchen. There is no lack of food.

Plain flour, sugar, rice, beans, margarine, cans of milk, oil, mineral water

and cookies are the basic ingredients of the menu, which varies according

to the creativity of the cook on duty. To avoid fights about dividing up

cleaning tasks, rules were worked out together and written on a paper

hung on the wall.

86

On the school patio, there is an exhibit of drawings done by children in

workshops led by volunteers from the Comunidade Educativa (Educational

Community) program, run by the Bunge Foundation in conjunction with

the Municipal Secretariat of Social Action and coordinated by teachers and

social workers. Twice a week, men and women laden with guitars, paper,

colored pencils, brushes, water colors, scissors, glue and books show up.

They spend a few hours of their day entertaining children and adults. Telling

stories, organizing sessions for drawing and painting, and singing and

dancing. A bit of leisure and entertainment to help disperse the enormous

cloud of sadness that hovers there.

There was heavy traffic in the shelter in the first days. Amidst the coming

and going of volunteers and temporary residents, a military police corporal

was assigned to provide security, to make sure that rules were followed and

avoid possible misunderstandings. Civil Defense personnel were constantly

bringing in boxes and more boxes of donations: clothing, food, blankets,

mattresses, armchairs, tables and chairs.

As time passed, visits became less frequent and food donations, which had

been arriving daily, dropped to once a week. The rooms began emptying

out. And the halls reverberated with the echoes of children’s voices.

Some families had their houses released by Civil Defense and left. Others

were transferred to shelters which were better prepared to receive them.

Those with no place to go remained. They had lost their homes and their land.

They literally have no ground to stand on. They are awaiting a decision that

is out of their hands. While they wait, they watch their children draw, paint,

sing and listen attentively to the stories that volunteers Marilda or Ângela

tell. At these times, even those who feel most desperate and hopeless,

smile. Perhaps, deep down, they know that even after the heaviest rains,

the sun always rises again.

The sun appearsin the children’s drawings, dispersingthe cloud of sadness.

let’s rebuild

During the entire month of December, the towns of Santa Catarina which

had been affected by the floods, torrents of rain and landslides set the stage

for many efforts at solidarity. Government authorities, the private sector and

civil society organized to meet the countless demands coming from all sides.

In Blumenau, what became known as Operação Esperança (Operation Hope)

was organized. This movement brought together over 3,500 civil servants

from various departments and agencies, such as the Civil and Military

Police, the Army, the Fire Department and Civil Defense. All the members,

independently of their functions, worked hard during the thirty days that

followed that weekend.

Aid in the form of donations arrived from every corner of Brazil and the

rest of the world. Day after day, the residents of the Itajaí Valley began to 88

January 7, 2009, Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

erase the marks of the waves of mud. Groups of people organized to clean

up houses, build new rooms and house more people, to replant the fields

and open the streets. Very few people stood by with their arms crossed. If,

on one hand, one could see a devastated region, on the other, intense

determination was evident. It was visible and palpable.

On December 31, everyone wore white. Mayors, municipal department

heads, civil defense directors, military officers, firefighters, men, women and

children. All met in the main square of Blumenau to mark the moment of

reconstruction. This was a pact made with a good, loud sound. The clock

on the square marked one minute after midnight on January 1, 2009 when

thousands of people held hands and shouted together: Let’s rebuild!

The echo of their voices still resounds. If Hermann Blumenau were around,

he would certainly be proud of the will and courage of the people who

inherited his lands. 89

January 7, 2009, Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

90

August 11, 2009, Ilhota, Santa Catarina.

“We went through moments that made us think about the purpose of our lives. We chose to live in this valley; it is our cradle. We are joining forces and strengthening our bonds. We are a people who struggle; we never give up. We are going to write a new history, and become the city of everyone’s dreams. Rebuilding is a task for everyone, the duty of every citizen.”

Sérgio Waldrich,President of Bunge Alimentos

rebuilding

IN JANUARY OF 2009, THE SUN BEGAN TO SHINE AGAIN ON THE ITAJAÍ VALLEY. LIKE THE OTHER TIMES THEY HAD SUFFERED FROM FLOODS, MANY FAMILIES BEGAN TO CLEAN UP THEIR HOUSES. WHILE WOMEN AND CHILDREN SCRUBBED THE FLOORS AND WALLS STAINED WITH BROWN MUD, FARMERS TRIED TO DISCOVER WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR DEVASTATED CROPS.

learning a new relationship

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At universities and research centers all over the country, experts pored over books, synopt ic maps , and other documents to try to decipher the tragedy. Diagnoses would be essential for future predictions.

In the city offices, mayors accumulated mountains of paper on their desks.

The department heads’ phones rang non-stop with priorities coming in from

all over. Developing an action strategy was like playing a game of chess.

Millions of variables appeared simultaneously, but it was necessary to choose

a first step.

Opening the streets and highways. Rebuilding bridges. Removing barriers

of debris. Recovering light poles. Moving families lodged in city schools:

classes had to begin. Expanding hospitals. Reopening businesses. Beginning

recovery operations for the port. Removing buildings along the river.

Isolating the hillsides vulnerable to new landslides. Preventing residents from

returning to their houses when located in an area of risk. Defining areas

of risk. Building new houses. On what land? Investing in Civil Defense and

the Fire Department. Replanting native trees. Recovering riparian forests.

Rethinking the countryside. Rethinking the cities.

In those first days of 2009, it became evident that one of the greatest

challenges to rebuilding was to design an action plan that included short-term,

medium-term and long-term activities for each municipality, taking into

account the multiple variables involved. Another big challenge was acquiring

the human and financial resources to make this strategy viable.

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Given the magnitude of the tasks and the plurality of actions, it became

clear that the public authorities would not be in a position to act alone.

It was necessary to organize a multilateral dialogue among representatives

of state and city government, the private sector and civil society, and the

scientists among them.

It was not the time to lay blame or flee from responsibility, but rather to

try to build alliances that could help understand the processes that led

to the tragedy and undertake action to avoid or minimize possible future

problems.

But how to do that?

The scientists were clear: it would be necessary to find a new way of treating

the land, a new vision of how to occupy cities and towns and deal with

nature. It is not enough to rebuild based on the rationale of former times. It

is necessary to adopt and disseminate behavioral change so that everyone

can learn and relate in a more mature and conscious way to our big home,

the planet.

The Itajaí Valley offers an opportunity to usher in this new relationship. We

need to be open to it. This is a common cause with something to say to

each of us. Mayors, department heads, teachers, students, housewives,

professionals, business people, firefighters, scientists and volunteers.

We are all one.

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In Braço do Baú, in the neighborhood of Ilhota, Evaldo Kremer reset the

fenceposts of a destroyed fence with his own hands. This was after having

remodeled and painted his entire house. He was also assessing whether he

will be able to recover his rice fields, which were buried under a thick layer

of mud. His banana and eucalyptus plantations were seriously damaged.

The flour mill, inherited from the time his father owned the land, turned to

ruin. At the time, one could only see an enormous tongue of land cutting

through the five hectares that belonged to Mr. Evaldo. And surrounding

the tongue, mud.

how to rebuild?

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The Itajaí Valley is a region of small farmers. Large farms are rare. The

most common sight is small farms cultivated with perseverance and care

by descendants of Germans and Italians who arrived a century and a half

ago. These are people who were born and grew up with the land, and

established great intimacy with it over the long succession of springs

and summers. But, even being so close, they did not have a sufficient

understanding of the tragedy that befell them, their neighbors and the

region. They did not know what to do. How to rebuild? They are still

waiting for answers to this question.

Mr. Evaldo Kremer, one of the small farmers of the Itajaí Valley.An entire life on the land provided no answers to the tragedy.

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good examples

“Companies like Bunge and organizations such as the Rotary Club, the Municipal Association of Small- and Micro-Sized Companies (AMPE) and the Commercial-Industrial Association (ASCI) suspended their business activities to become involved in providing services to the population. This gives us in the government a certain comfort, because sometimes it’s hard to know what to do.”

Pedro Celso Zuchi, Mayor of Gaspar

Among the negative outcomes, some positive lessons were drawn from the

tragic events of November 2008. People were different after that weekend.

Many actions were organized to extend the mobilization and establish a

reconstruction plan.

Business people from the local media, who had joined forces to provide

public services to the population in the first days after the tragedy, organized

a weekly TV program called “Rebuilding the Valley”, and geologists, biologists

and psychologists were invited to give their opinions and propose long-term

solutions.

Bunge forged an alliance with local business people to get reconstruction

funds for the Nossa Senhora do Perpétuo Socorro Hospital and for the

Angélica Costa School in Gaspar. In the first month one million and seven

hundred thousand reais (R$) were raised. Moreover, it created a program to

provide psychological and material support to the affected employees. Its

transportation network was put at the service of Civil Defense to distribute

the rest of the donations, which still filled the gymnasium, to the most distant

towns.

In the hardest-hit cities, the municipal department heads organized campaigns

that sought dialogue and alliances with town, business and community

leaderships to carry out long-lasting rebuilding activities.

The Ministry of National Integration sent some of its professionals to Gaspar

to give courses and seminars to civil society. The idea was to train community

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leaders who could act as an arm of Civil Defense in case of new floods and

collapses.

While business and government officials organized the activities needed to

manage post-crisis activities, geologist Juarês Aumond and biologist Lauro

Bacca, both from Blumenau, resolved to take off on their own to rural and

urban areas of the Itajaí Valley to carry out a scientific diagnosis of the

collapses and landslides.

They visited various places and were able to see on site what their studies had

already pointed out: the areas with preserved forest were the least affected.

“In the Serra do Itajaí National Park, for example, there were no significant

landslides despite the very intense rain there. In places with larger stretches

of native forest especially, such as the park called Parque das Nascentes,

nothing happened,” says Lauro Bacca.

According to him and to Professor Aumond, the great challenge for the

authorities was to enforce the Federal Forest Code. “You can’t create a

specific code for each state. The states have to respect Brazil’s environmental

laws. Among other things, this means not building along the river banks

or on the hillsides. We have to act in harmony with nature, not against it,”

concludes Bacca.

Scientists who were hundreds of miles from there also shared this opinion.

Their words were fundamental to making land and city managers deeply

reflect on that.

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

“WHEN WE TALK ABOUT AGRICULTURE, WE CANNOT REFER JUST TO THE PLANTS UNDER CULTIVATION, BUT ALSO TO THE SOIL, WHICH IS ONE OF THE MOST PRECIOUS NATURAL RESOURCES THAT EXIST, JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WATER.”

Carlos Eduardo Cerri, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Science

a new look at the land

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The Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ) is one of the most

respected institutions in all of Brazil. For 108 years it has been a campus of

the University of São Paulo, located in Piracicaba, a city 111.85 miles (180 km)

from the capital city of São Paulo. Specialists in a variety of different areas of

agronomy earn their degrees there. These are professionals whose lives are

dedicated to trying to understand the earth and improve man’s relationship

with it. One of them is Professor Carlos Eduardo Cerri, of the Department

of Soil Science.

Cerri attentively monitored the extreme events that had occurred in the

Itajaí Valley, and, like his colleagues, was also surprised at the impact of

the rains and at the collapses and landslides. He shared the opinions of

the Santa Catarina specialists: before undertaking isolated activities, it is

necessary to rethink the entire region, which includes the sensitive points,

urban settlement and agricultural practices.

In the case of agriculture, all agreed that it is necessary to provide incentive

for agronomists and farmers to work together, to take the results of years

of research and study to those who live day-to-day on the land. Bringing

together the theory and the practice. This exchange is perhaps the most

important point in the land recovery project for the Itajaí Valley.

Agriculture is one of the basic pillars for sustaining our planet. It produces

food, fiber, meat and in recent times, fuel. In several countries, Brazil

among them, these practices can have strong environmental impact.

A lot of CO2 gas is released into the atmosphere when the land is plowed

for planting, and this is one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global

warming.

There are large amounts of carbon in the soil – three times higher than in

the atmosphere. When the land is intensively worked, either by machine

or by hand, carbon decomposes and is released into the air in a gas form.

On the other hand, there is no way to plant without “disturbing” the soil.

“What we can do is try to be ‘more gentle’,” says Cerri.

To try to solve the delicate equation to find a balance between agricultural

production, necessary to our survival, and environmental preservation, also

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necessary to our survival, there have been worldwide numerous research

projects and some conservationist agricultural practices, which, according

to Cerri, are appropriate to the Itajaí Valley.

No-till farming is one of these solutions. This activity proposes keeping

vegetable cover on the soil the entire year, especially in-between harvest

periods of the main crops. This cover may be leftovers from an earlier crop

(straw) or a leguminous crop such as beans, for example. This works as a

protective layer, which in addition to creating an environment favorable

to developing the nutrients necessary for soil fertility, also contributes to

slower absorption of rain, thus preventing erosion. Moreover, planting

different crops in the same place helps to create a richer environment for

the soil, with more microorganisms interacting.

Another conservation practice is to plant stretches of woods made up of

different native species in swaths throughout the farm. Their roots form

a tangle which allows water infiltration into soil, thus preventing erosion.

This rule of diversity also holds for riparian forests, located along rivers and

creeks.

“Further, tree tops of different dimensions help to break the wind intensity,

as well as to provide shade, useful for several crops such as bananas, for

example,” says Carlos Cerri. Another benefit is that they withdraw carbon

from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, contributing to minimizing the

greenhouse effect.

Finally, one of the most common recommendations of scientists has to

do with the aptitude of the earth for cultivating species. Some types of

crops adapt better to specific soil conditions than others. This is the case

of bananas, whose shallow roots hold better in flat, rather than hilly,

terrain. “If someone wants to grow bananas on hillsides, it is fundamental

to establish the rule of diversity, growing species with deeper roots in

the same area in order to balance the structure of the soil bed,”

suggests Cerri.

Diversity on the soil surface as well as below. This is one of the main laws

of nature. And it is the main advice of specialists.

No-Till Farming: A “More Gentle” Way of Disturbing the Soil.

This is a technique designed to plant seeds in undisturbed soil (without previous plowing or grading), with previous crop residues (straw) left on the soil surface. There are many advantages to using this technique, not just to preserve the environment, but also to increase productivity.

• Protection against erosion: the impact of rain on the soil is cushioned by straw (1), allowing higher water absorption by the soil.

• Decrease of greenhouse gas: the less the soil is disturbed, the less CO2 (and other gases) is released into the atmosphere.

• Cleaner agriculture: less need for operations, reduces the use of fuels (diesel) in farming.

• Soil fertility: through decomposition of organic matter, the straw cover releases nutrients which will be absorbed by plants, as well as providing the proper environment for the development of beneficial microorganism (1).

No-till farming is one of the most important environmental efforts in Brazil in response to the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment (Eco ‘92) and the Brazilian Agenda 21.

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Diversity of species and crops:greater abundance and security for the land.

“In the case of areas of low fertility, an initial planting of nitrogen-fixing herbaceous plant species (for example, crotolaria and Canavalia ensiformis – the Brazilian broad bean) produces green manure increasing the chances of successful recovery. After this first planting, seedlings of arboreal species, with the necessary diversity for recovery, should be planted.”

Carlos Alfredo Joly, Ph.D in Botany from UNICAMP

“Forests with different native species have tangled roots in the upper soil layers with a broad diversity of structures and depths (2), which makes the hillsides more stable.”

Carlos Alfredo Joly, Ph.D in Botany from UNICAMP

(2)

(1)

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GLOBAL WARMING AND AREAS OF RISK

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), whose main headquarters

are located in São José dos Campos in the state of São Paulo, is a reference

throughout the world. Its mission is to produce science and technology in

the areas of space and earth environment, including weather and climate

forecasting, and to analyze global climate changes.

Ever since the tragedy in the Itajaí Valley in 2008, specialists from INPE have

been meeting to discuss the causes, study correlations with past events,

and try to predict future events related to global warming. A technical

note on the diagnosis of the causes and impact of the rains in Santa

Catarina in November 2008 was issued — a document which analyzes

the reasons for these events from a multidisciplinary point of view.

Carlos Nobre, an internationally known IPCC climatologist, and one of the

major names at INPE, says that despite the November 2008 precipitation

having been heavier and longer than usual, two issues that set off the

tragedy were deforestation and unregulated land occupation.

“Studies point out that with global warming, rain tends to increase, not

just in the Itajaí Valley region, but in other regions of Brazil. That’s why, if

we don’t plan more rational land use, other tragedies of similar dimensions

can occur.”

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By rational land use is meant the non-occupation of areas at risk of collapse,

such as hillsides and slopes and areas close to rivers. In the case of the Itajaí

Valley, this is an especially big challenge, since there is little land that is not

steep or along the banks of water courses. This is a serious issue, which if,

from one point of view, seems to be a summary condemnation of any kind

of occupation of the Valley, on the other hand, it cannot be ignored. In any

case, it serves as a warning for further occupation.

“We have to do a very large mapping of areas of risk, see which of them

has become more susceptible to the increased rain intensity and even to

drought, which occurs as a result of the lack of water supply to the large

cities. This is urgent! At first, this rethinking might be more laborious and

more expensive, but it will certainly be of great value to the future, since it

will help to prepare Brazil for this moment of very intense climate change

that we are living through,” concludes Carlos Nobre.

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a new look at the city

URBAN PLANNING

The Institute of Technological Research (IPT) is one of the largest Brazilian

research institutes and acts in a multidisciplinary manner, encompassing

different sectors, such as energy, transportation, the environment,

construction, cities and security. Álvaro Rodrigues dos Santos is a geologist

who was the IPT director of planning. Presently he is a senior researcher

with the Institute and consultant in Geological Engineering, Geotechnics

and Environment.

For him, one of the great challenges to the municipalities of Santa Catarina is to

plan responsible urban growth. To do so, he reminds us of the importance of

implementing the City Statute, promulgated in 2001, which has considerable

advances in efforts towards urban planning, including mandatory monitoring

of municipalities with populations over 20,000 which are required to design

and apply a Master Plan, understood as a basic tool for development policy

and urban expansion.

In his opinion, a Master Plan alone does not take into account the geological

and geotechnical characteristics of the land. His proposal is that each

municipality adopts the Geotechnical Map as a mandatory reference for all

urban land occupation activities.

“The Geotechnical Map contains information on the geological and

geomorphologic features of a given region with respect to the kind of land

use, defining the areas that can and cannot be occupied. It is essentially a

planning tool, which must include at least two types of professionals in its

design: a geologist and a geotechnical civil engineer,” says Álvaro.

The planning to which Álvaro refers was the conceptual basis for the project

of an eco-efficient neighborhood that is being developed for Gaspar.

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MODEL PROJECT

At the end of 2008, the phone rang in the Rio de Janeiro office of Luiz

Eduardo Indio da Costa. It was the Bunge Foundation staff wanting

to make a proposal: to rebuild the Angélica Costa Municipal School in

Gaspar, on an eco-efficient basis. He listened and agreed to find out more

about it.

Indio da Costa is one of the best-known architects in Brazil. Born in Rio

Grande do Sul, but living in Rio de Janeiro, he was for many years architect

at Rio de Janeiro City Hall, responsible for creating various projects that

carried a sustainable vision for large urban downtown areas such as

Rio-Cidade Leblon and the Pier Mauá, which is part of the Guided Recovery

Program for the port area of the city. He reports that these experiences

taught him to be an urbanist.

After several meetings, the partnership with the Bunge Foundation was

agreed to, and work began. This was in early 2009. The architect’s first

move was to make the first of a series of trips to Gaspar, accompanied by

professionals from his office, to study the region and specifically, the site

for rebuilding the school.

When they arrived, they saw that rebuilding in the same place where the

school stood was totally out of the question. The hillside was still moving

and any strong rains could cause new collapses.

The group, along with geologists and agronomists hired by the town of

Gaspar, studied other areas in the same neighborhood, but noticed that a

good part of Sertão Verde was at risk. You couldn’t build a school based

on sustainability in a geologically unstable place. And that was the moment

that the project began to grow.

112

In conversations with government authorities, the Bunge Foundation and

Bunge proposed the granting of an area where not just the school, but an

entire neighborhood, could be rebuilt, based on principles of sustainability.

Bunge would hire the Rio de Janeiro office for a neighborhood design

project and, in conjunction with government, hoped to build an alliance

for implementing it. They received an area of 1,117,724.46 square feet

(103,840 m2) from the state government along the banks of the Itajaí-Açu

River. Its geographic location provided its provisional name: Left Bank.

Located only 1.24 miles (2 km) from Sertão Verde, the “Left Bank”

neighborhood is in a higher region, and thus not subject to flooding.

It is also geologically more settled and is adjacent to an Area of Permanent

Preservation — 328.08 feet (100 m) wide. The vacant areas cover more

than a third of the total area: 38.7 percent.

113

Based on these data, the architects and urbanists from Indio da Costa’s

office began thinking about the project.

Its main inspiration was the concept of sustainable or new urbanism, an

architectural trend that is transforming the design of cities worldwide. Some

experiences are being put into practice as neighborhoods and model cities.

One of these is the BedZed (Beddington Zero Energy Development), in the

south of London, England. Built in 2002, this neighborhood adopted a series

of measures to reduce important environmental impacts — such as not using

cars and living integrated with nature. Another is Masdar City in Abu Dhabi,

the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a zero-carbon city built in the middle

of the desert. A third is the Pedra Branca neighborhood in Florianópolis, Santa

Catarina, which also prioritizes the principles of sustainable development in

its thinking, putting the pedestrian first.

RUA CARLOS R. SCHRAMM

BR-470

SERTÃO VERDE

MARGEM ESQUERDA

The Sertão Verde and the new neighborhood in Gaspar,to be built on a sustainable basis.

114

With these models in mind, meetings began at Indio da Costa’s office

in the Botafogo neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro to discuss the concepts

which would guide the new neighborhood. Some points were essential:

it would be an urban, not rural, development. It had to be eco-efficient,

assuring respect for and compliance with all the environmental, road and

land use laws. And the school would be the big convergence point.

Thus, they began to design.

The school will be set right at the center of the land, alongside a green

area which is open and integrated into nature. The idea is to distribute its

facilities, such as sports and play areas through the public space in such

a way as to avoid being closed in. “We want it to include sustainable

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solutions and for these to be apparent to others who want to repeat the

model in their homes and businesses, in other neighborhoods and cities,”

says João Maró, one of the architects responsible for the project.

The streets will be wide, with sidewalks that are wheelchair accessible

and with touch-sensitive floors for visually impaired people in compliance

with international conventions. Bicycle lanes were created to encourage

bicycle use.

And the Carlos R. Schramm Road, which connects Sertão Verde with the

new neighborhood, will have a passage where it crosses the BR-470 State

Highway, so that pedestrians can go beneath it, safely, whenever they go

to the school, for example.

Wide streets, sidewalks wheelchair accessible, touch-sensitive floors and bicycle lanes: a new way of life is being born.

116

The houses suggested in the project follow the Public Housing Agency

(COHAB) model; however, they have a design adapted by the Laboratory

for Energy Efficiency in Buildings of the Federal University of Santa

Catarina, guaranteed to employ energy-efficient standards which reduce

environmental impact, with solar energy panels and towers to catch

rain water.

There will be a circular movement of eco-efficiency: a neighborhood that

generates part of its own energy, that reuses rainwater and that has a

system to carry sewer to biodigesters where waste will be transformed into

gas which, in turn, will be used in the school.

In the sewer system, biodigesters transform part of the waste into gas, which will be used in the school (1); another part goes to composting units, which supply compost for the community vegetable garden, while the remaining garbage is recycled (2); rainwater is stored in the collecting tank to be reused, with only the excess water being drained off into the river (3); and solar energy panels provide light to the area surrounding the school (4).

43

RIO

ITA

JAÍ-

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100

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1 2

117

The project was presented to the City Government of Gaspar and to the

State Secretariat for Regional Development on August 20, 2009. The next

step will be to work on the implementation project. In this stage, the

infrastructure team, with specialists in water, sewer, electricity, landscape

and waste projects, all coordinated by Indio da Costa’s office, will work

out project details and create the technical specifications needed to make

it viable. A third phase will begin with the construction of the school,

scheduled to be ready in 2010.

But good concepts, specialized talent, exact numbers and precise technical

designs are not enough to create an entire neighborhood from scratch. To

make a neighborhood, you have to have people who believe in it.

ESCOLA

The school will be the central place for the community to congregate in the new neighborhood.

talking to make it happen

“WITHOUT SOCIETY, THERE IS NO PROJECT. PEOPLE HAVE TO INTERVENE, SHARE, AND CHANGE. IT IS NECESSARY TO BUILD TOGETHER, TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”

Luiz Eduardo Indio da Costa, architect and urbanist

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The neighborhood project, provisionally named

Left Bank, is an innovation in Brazil. As soon as it is implemented with all its conceptual nuances, it could become a model for urban sustainability for other towns in the Itajaí Valley and other regions of Brazil. The Bunge Foundation and Bunge intend to show that it is possible to find new ways for urban space occupation. That it is possible to build spaces with more social justice and more environmental integration.

But, for this idea to get off the paper and become a reality, more people

must participate. Other companies that believe in the project and want

to do their part must also participate. This also applies to the community

members who have to leave their old houses in neighborhoods such as

Sertão Verde to live in the new development.

The Bunge Foundation and Bunge, along with Indio da Costa’s office, held

a series of meetings with business people to make a detailed presentation

of the project to presidents, directors and executives of companies in

the region. As of the close of this report, at the beginning of September

2009, some organizations and government agencies had agreed to take

part, as follows. The Construction Industry Association of Santa Catarina

(SINDUSCON), the Electric Utility Company of the State of Santa Catarina

(CELESC), Zênite Engenharia, and the Federation of Industries of the State

of Santa Catarina.

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As for the community, from the outset, when Indio da Costa’s office

was beginning to work on the first designs for the new neighborhood,

the Bunge Foundation and Bunge organized meetings with community

leaders to present the outline of the idea. The intention was to hear out

representatives from civil society, people whose lives would be strongly

affected by the new project, discover the most critical points and whether

people would be open to moving. Despite initial resistance, little by little,

the community perceived that the new project was an opportunity to have

a future with more dignity and security.

A lot of conversation will still be needed. In the end, “it is opening to

dialogue and in the flow of conversation that the project will grow and

become a reality. People need to feel they are part of its creation to take part

in carrying out the project,” says architect and urbanist Indio da Costa.

The Bunge Foundation fully agrees.

To learn more about the project for the new neighborhood, consult www.conhecerparasustentar.com.br

knowing to

sustain

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feeding ideas

Almost a year later, between Monday evening, September 7, 2009 and

early Tuesday morning, September 8, winds with an estimated speed of

over 111.85 miles per hour (180 km/hr) hit the three towns in the extreme

west of Santa Catarina. In Guaraciaba, a small town with around 10,000

residents, 90 percent of the population was affected and four people

died. The mayor declared a state of public calamity. In the following hours,

another 68 towns reported events related to the storms to Civil Defense.

The wind and rain spread over several regions and on Wednesday 9, Santa

Catarina Governor, Luiz Henrique da Silveira, declared a state of emergency

in 64 municipalities.

Analyzing the effects of the wind and rain on houses, specialists at the

Center for Meteorology and Hydric Resources of Santa Catarina (CIRAM)

and the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC), in

Cachoeira Paulista, São Paulo, concluded that the storm had been a tornado,

a storm in vortex form. Its force is capable of “sucking up” whatever is on

the land and pitching it into the air. For researchers, the south of Brazil

is especially vulnerable to this type of phenomenon because it is an area

where masses of air with different temperatures collide. For the residents

of the affected regions, it was a nightmare.

It seemed like a flashback. Less than a year after the week of tragedy in

the Itajaí Valley, there was a similar situation in the same state, exposing

human vulnerability in the face of natural events, which are becoming

more and more severe.

Despite still not being able to prove it, some scientists suggest that there

is a correlation between global warming and the intensity of the rains,

droughts, tornados and other recent extreme events. Others insist that

the force of the events is the result of a specific interglacial period which

125

the planet is undergoing. Still others say that human activity on the land

– incorrect use of the soil, interference with forests and rivers – may be

responsible for intensifying the consequences of these events.

The fact is that there is no single truth. On the one hand, science has

presented varying opinions which are complementary on some points and

contradictory on others. On the other extreme, human experiences on the

land also present numerous versions. There exists a plurality of views, which

could come together, give rise to dialogue, and thus help everyone.

When the Bunge Foundation created its Knowledge for Sustainability:

Itajaí Valley project, it was exactly with the purpose of deepening

thinking and reflection about the relationship between man and nature,

creating room for the exchange of knowledge and seeking scientific and

empirical foundations that could help the proposals and solutions for this

new moment in human history to evolve.

We live in unique times: that is the consensus. It is a time of crisis, but

also of opportunities to create and implement a new consciousness of

sustainability. Sustainability as not just a concept, but mainly as an integrated

practice of economic, social, cultural and environmental developments.

We do know that developing sustainability for a city, region, or country

is a giant challenge that involves multiple complex variables. An equation

that needs a lot of dialogue, readiness and political will to be put into

action.

However, if we do not take the first step, the challenge will be even harder

to meet than it is now. To achieve this, our concern as world citizens is to

take actions in the direction of what we consider to be fair practices that

propose a better life for people, business and the planet.

The ideas and proposals in this book and in the entire Knowledge for Sustainability: Itajaí Valley project are just the beginning of a story. To continue such story, new players need to stand up to the scene. And each of us, independently of ethnicity, profession or lifestyle, could be that major player.

Mônica Shelter, Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

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Only by becoming players in a new model of sustainability, will we be able to help build a more harmonious world. We believe that this is the way things happen. First as individuals. Then together.

Welcome.

St. Peter Apostle Church (Igreja Matriz São Pedro Apóstolo), Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

This book was composed in Frutiger and Optima fonts; its interior and cover were printed on 150g opaque couché and 300g Supremo Duo Design paperboard, at Stilgraf. It is a project of the Bunge Foundation. São Paulo, Brazil, 2009 Spring.

“We went through moments that made us think about the purpose of our lives. We chose to live in this valley; it is our cradle. We are joining forces and strengthening our bonds. (...) Rebuilding is a task for everyone, the duty of every citizen.”

Sérgio Waldrich, President of Bunge Alimentos. Gaspar, Santa Catarina.

In November and December 2008, the Itajaí Valley, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, experienced one of the greatest tragedies in its history. Downpours and enormous landslides changed the features of the region, causing more than one hundred deaths and leaving thousands of people homeless.

But this is not a book about the tragedy. One year later, the Bunge Foundation casts a look at the history of the Itajaí Valley, from the first years of settlement to a possible future. A sustainable vision for the recovery of the Valley, that combines the opinions of various experts with the practical knowledge of the population, in an open and positive dialogue. A new look that leads to new ways of dealing with the land, the city, and the human being, and that may contribute to new studies on sustainability in Brazil and in the world.