Heavy rains that led to massive floods and landslides have caused unprecedented destruction and tragedy in the mountainous areas of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. According to the latest media reports, the six most affected towns of Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis, Petropolis, Sao Jose do Vale do Rio Preto, Sumidouro and Bom Jardin have reported a total of over 700 casualties with many more missing and several thousand people displaced or homeless.
A team of SOS co-workers that was sent to the affected areas to assess the situation has decided to begin emergency relief efforts mainly for children without parental care particularly in the town of Nova Friburgo.
After contacting and establishing partnerships with local government authorities, army representatives and local NGOs, SOS Children's Villages has begun working on two of the most pressing priorities. First, children who have lost their families in the ongoing disaster or who have been separated from their families with no knowledge of their whereabouts must be identified and registered as soon as possible in cooperation with local authorities. Second, those children who have nobody to take care of them, even if only temporarily, must be provided with basic necessities, such as food, medical and psychological support, and a safe place to stay.
Government authorities have already declared SOS Children's Villages the designated temporary caretakers of children without parental care, and members of the SOS emergency team are currently searching for unaccompanied children in more than two dozen facilities that shelter displaced persons. A local NGO has put its facilities, a nursery and a kindergarten, at the disposal of SOS Children's Villages. Four children whose family refused to leave the threatened areas are already being cared for there. Since this arrangement is only temporary, another NGO has offered to finance the rental of facilities for a period of at least six months.
While the disaster is already being called one of the worst in Brazilian history, weather forecasts predict more rain yet to come over the next days and weeks.