Rains in Rio Grande do Sul have affected 8,000 indigenous people

The rains that hit Rio Grande do Sul in recent days have affected 8 thousand indigenous people in 80 communities spread across different regions of the state, according to data from Brazil’s national indigenous authority Funai and indigenous associations. Villages are reported to have been destroyed by floods, in addition to the evacuation of people and isolation due to damaged roads.

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According to the associations, Guarani Mbya, Kaingang, Xokleng, and Charrua communities in around 50 municipalities have been affected.

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Among the worst affected are six Guarani communities located in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. “The rain has damaged a lot of things in the villages. People have lost their houses, mattresses, cutlery, and pots and pans. They’ve lost everything. The villages were under water,” said chief Helio Fernandes, from the Guarani village Guyra Nhendu, in Maquiné, on the north coast.

The residents of three Guarani villages in Viamão, as well as communities in Barra do Ribeiro, Eldorado do Sul, and Porto Alegre, he went on, had to leave the area and are now sheltered in schools. “They can’t return to the villages because everything was destroyed there,” he pointed out.

This is not the first time some of these villages have suffered from the rains. “A month ago there was another flood that washed away houses,” the Guarani leader added.

Marciano Rodrigues, from the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of the Southern Region (Arpinsul), explained that many of these villages are located in undemarcated areas and lack adequate infrastructure. “Most of them are in a really vulnerable situation. They don’t have good houses. Some of them are makeshift lodgings, so the damage ends up being much greater.”

Roberto Liebgott, a missionary from the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), said that government agents should get all the support needed to reach isolated regions.

“All those indigenous communities with a food reserve have used it up this week. Now they need the immediate delivery of basic food supplies, which nonprofits are unable to do due to a lack of material and resources. We don’t have the logistics,” Liebgott said. “We have the whole state sliced up, you can’t get from one place to another. Only the state forces can get around, by boat or by air.”

In a statement, Funai said it has been working to integrate public institutions and try to incorporate the issues of indigenous communities into the efforts of the municipal, state, and federal governments.