‘David Almeida just came to give close,’ says resident of risk area on mayor of Manaus

Ana Pastana – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “Congressmen go out, mayors come in, mayors go out, and for 30 years my house has been affected by flooding. It’s like this every time, since when I was a little girl. Just yesterday the mayor David Almeida came here to give us a close up”. The speech of revolt with the inaction of the Manaus City Hall is from Janaína Texeira, 30 years old, resident of Pena Baixada street, in the Sharp Community, one of the places affected by the heavy rains that fell on Saturday, 25.

A resident of the community for 30 years, Janaína told CENARIUM MAGAZINE, this Sunday, 26, the eternal cycle of struggle against the lack of infrastructure and public policies, mainly, by the City Hall. “We have no welcome from anyone, and if we were to depend on Mayor David Almeida it’s just a waste of time…”, she said. “To have an idea, they didn’t want to register me (to receive aid) and I only got in because I made a shack. They wanted me to come yesterday (Saturday, after the rains), but how could I come with water on my shins?“

The resident cried as she recalled the trajectory of suffering that she has experienced for decades: “I can’t stand it anymore! They don’t do anything! If I were to add up all the furniture that my mother’s house lost, and later my house lost, I could open a store,” she said. “They want to give us a ranch, but I ask them: am I going to put my dead daughter on top of a foodstuff? The population, here, is suffering and the big guys don’t do anything! They haven’t given us anything, and I’m not talking about a ranch”, she protested. Asked if the city’s civil defense had contacted her, she answered: “Nobody has come so far,” she lamented.

The elderly caregiver Ana Cleia Barbosa, 53, and also a resident of the Sharp Community for almost 30 years, criticized the Manaus City Hall. “The water enters our houses, floods everything, everything is stinking and David Almeida will say that he is paying rent to the people who were flooded, that he gave ranch, that he gave everything. He didn’t give anything. We need help. […]”, laments Ana Cleia.

“We went there [at the school] to get assistance, people were sick outside, they didn’t let anyone in, or have coffee, saying that it was only for the people who had slept inside. Thank God that the people who lost their houses are sleeping inside, but what about the people who lost their things? And what about the people who lost everything?

These life stories are similar to that of Antonio Silva, 66 years old, retired, resident of the Sharp Community since 1995, who says that he has experienced countless floods and damages over the years and, until today, waits for an effective action from the public authorities. “I’ve lived here for 28 years and, in the meantime, I haven’t seen a policy of change, we ask for help and they say that it doesn’t flood here and we lose our furniture and appliances. The Civil Defense hasn’t come here yet.

The team from REVISTA CENARIUM was at the Aristóteles de Alencar Municipal School, one of the places used as shelter for the families affected in the community. The report tried to contact representatives of the municipality, on site, (one of the few points where municipal agents were seen) but was prevented from going beyond the inside of the unit. Through a press release, the City Hall informed that it is providing support to the families affected by the rains with psychosocial assistance and registration in social programs.

“Seventeen families were housed at the Aristóteles Comte de Alencar municipal school, with the support of teams from the Municipal Education Secretariat (Semed). Of this total, for nine families, Semasc made the registration of the social file, since they are not contemplated by the program”, says the publication released to the press.

Semasc teams continue in the neighborhoods Zumbi, East Zone, and Japiim, in the South Zone, serving families who suffered damage from the rains, and also in the Manaus 2000 location”. In addition, the Manaus City Hall announced, this Sunday, 26, the beginning of a donation campaign to help families who were victims of the heavy rains that hit the city last Saturday, 25.

Government Support

According to the Government of Amazonas, still on Saturday, it was established the creation of a task force to monitor and support families affected by the rains. According to the State Secretary of Justice, Human Rights and Citizenship (Sejusc), Jussara Pedrosa, the families sent to the shelters will have social and psychological care and all the necessary structure for the moment.

“In the first moment, we remove the families and bring them to the schools and to the shelters to provide social and psychological care and [do] registration. A good part of the families were already in the intervention area of the programs. Both here in Sharp, and in Manaus 2000, so, what is being done, now, is the confirmation of the registrations, and they will leave for the rent, until Tuesday. The whole structure of the state is mobilized so that by Tuesday all this can be solved. In this school, Aristóteles de Alencar, there is an average of 200 people (40 families) and in Manaus 2000, we have 20 people (six families). All sheltered, fed. All of them. The State is committing itself”, explained the secretary.

Also according to the government, will be anticipated resettlement of residents of the communities of Sharp and Manaus 2000 (which were also affected by the rains), with the granting of transitional housing allowance. The State Superintendence of Housing (Suhab), as well as the Management Unit of Special Projects (UGPE), responsible for Prosamin+, should speed up the resettlement process for these families who lost their homes.

“In this area of Sharp, the total attendance will be 2,382 families. Some of them entered after the registration we did, and will have a separate service. On Tuesday, there will be a delivery to more than 200 families, and those who were affected by yesterday’s event, and that the process at Suhab is already closed, will be included as of next week, regardless of Tuesday’s event, and will start receiving their defined benefits”, explains the executive director UGPE, Marcellus Campelo.

Rain and damage

The heavy rain that hit Manaus on Saturday overflowed streams (small creeks that cut through the city) that invaded and swept away residences in the South and East zones of the capital of Amazonas. Three children were buried and were taken to a health unit in the city. According to the municipal Civil Defense, until 12 pm yesterday it rained an average of 78.6 millimeters in the capital. The most affected area was the East, with 122 millimeters of rain.

On the occasion, three children and three adults were injured after a ravine collapsed on homes in the Projected Street, Armando Mendes neighborhood, East Zone of Manaus. Three children were buried and were rescued by neighbors. At least four more houses are condemned by the Civil Defense. Two houses were completely destroyed and two others were partially affected.

In the Zumbi dos Palmares neighborhood, also in the East Zone, houses were invaded by water. A similar situation occurred in the Manaus 2000 Community, South Zone of the capital, where wooden houses were also swept by the waters of a stream near the community. In the Center-South Zone of the capital, the wall of the Residential Condominium Amazônia, on Mouzart Guarnieri street, Parque 10 neighborhood, collapsed after the earth gave way.