390
V. Meyer Jr. et al.
The forms and reports prepared by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment
and Renewable Natural Resources) during the follow up to the event are sources
of information formalized in the technical report of the disaster. Other sources are
the documents sent by Samarco in response to notifications made by Ibama, forms
of the Integrated Disaster Information System (S2ID) of the Ministry of National
Integration, information obtained from the environmental impact studies of projects
licensed by Ibama in the impacted region and bibliographic research. The technical
report that was analyzed subdivides the impacts according to the areas of permanent
preservation: impacts on fauna, socioeconomic impacts and impacts on water quality.
A limitation of the study is that the data analysis should take into account that the
results are based on secondary data, such as the published official documents, and are
derived exclusively from reported facts. No interviews were conducted with those
involved in the disaster, although official published testimonies were considered in
this study.
5.1 The Case: Fundão Tailings Dam Catastrophe
Tailings dams are possibly the largest structures built by man (ICOLD 2001, p. 17). In
the afternoon of November 5, 2015 the Fundão Dam managed by the Samarco Company, in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, collapsed, causing the greatest environmental
disaster in Brazil and the world’s biggest accident involving tailings dams. Approximately thirty-four million cubic meters of mud, water and solid waste resulting
from iron mining were released into the environment. An eight-meter-high mudslide
tsunami devastated the Bento Rodrigues sub-district and seriously affected six other
sub-districts, leaving a trail of destruction, displacing one thousand two hundred and
sixty-five people. Nineteen people, all in Bento Rodrigues, lost their lives.
The United Nations Organization declared the disaster as a human rights violation
event. A categorization of the impacts resulting from the accident by the Justice
Department of Minas Gerais State listed damage to water quality and availability,
soil quality and availability, biodiversity, the region’s infrastructure and private assets.
It also listed impacts on work and income, damage to public health and safety, mental
health and suffering associated with the experience of tragedy, a violation of the right
to water and related problems, short and long term contact with heavy metals, impacts
on education, culture and leisure and damage to social organization.
The disaster was classified as a Level IV Disaster, “major disaster”, according
to the classification scheme established by the National Policy for Civil Defense.
The National Secretariat of Civil Protection and Defense classified this disaster as
2.4.2.0.0 (2: Technological Disaster; 4: Disaster related to civil works; 2: Breakdown/collapse of dams; 0: type and subtype), according to the Brazilian Code of
Disasters (COBRADE). The location of the catastrophe is shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
V. Meyer Jr. et al.
The forms and reports prepared by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment
and Renewable Natural Resources) during the follow up to the event are sources
of information formalized in the technical report of the disaster. Other sources are
the documents sent by Samarco in response to notifications made by Ibama, forms
of the Integrated Disaster Information System (S2ID) of the Ministry of National
Integration, information obtained from the environmental impact studies of projects
licensed by Ibama in the impacted region and bibliographic research. The technical
report that was analyzed subdivides the impacts according to the areas of permanent
preservation: impacts on fauna, socioeconomic impacts and impacts on water quality.
A limitation of the study is that the data analysis should take into account that the
results are based on secondary data, such as the published official documents, and are
derived exclusively from reported facts. No interviews were conducted with those
involved in the disaster, although official published testimonies were considered in
this study.
5.1 The Case: Fundão Tailings Dam Catastrophe
Tailings dams are possibly the largest structures built by man (ICOLD 2001, p. 17). In
the afternoon of November 5, 2015 the Fundão Dam managed by the Samarco Company, in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, collapsed, causing the greatest environmental
disaster in Brazil and the world’s biggest accident involving tailings dams. Approximately thirty-four million cubic meters of mud, water and solid waste resulting
from iron mining were released into the environment. An eight-meter-high mudslide
tsunami devastated the Bento Rodrigues sub-district and seriously affected six other
sub-districts, leaving a trail of destruction, displacing one thousand two hundred and
sixty-five people. Nineteen people, all in Bento Rodrigues, lost their lives.
The United Nations Organization declared the disaster as a human rights violation
event. A categorization of the impacts resulting from the accident by the Justice
Department of Minas Gerais State listed damage to water quality and availability,
soil quality and availability, biodiversity, the region’s infrastructure and private assets.
It also listed impacts on work and income, damage to public health and safety, mental
health and suffering associated with the experience of tragedy, a violation of the right
to water and related problems, short and long term contact with heavy metals, impacts
on education, culture and leisure and damage to social organization.
The disaster was classified as a Level IV Disaster, “major disaster”, according
to the classification scheme established by the National Policy for Civil Defense.
The National Secretariat of Civil Protection and Defense classified this disaster as
2.4.2.0.0 (2: Technological Disaster; 4: Disaster related to civil works; 2: Breakdown/collapse of dams; 0: type and subtype), according to the Brazilian Code of
Disasters (COBRADE). The location of the catastrophe is shown in Figs. 1 and 2.