Entire cities in southern Brazil have been flooded as a climate catastrophe has struck Rio Grande do Sul.
Two of our partners based in southern Brazil have paused all operations to aid in the emergency relief effort, as more than 540,000 people have been made homeless, more than 800 people are injured, 155 lives have been lost, and 108 people are still missing.
“I think the town will become a river one day, and it will be difficult for us to live here. People with money are all leaving,” Maria Marlene Venancio, a resident of Muçum, a small town 150 km (90 miles) upriver from Porto Alegre, has told media agency Reuters.
The disaster reflects the reality of climate displacement and how poorer households, small communities, and Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities are being disproportionately affected by the climate change. Our partners Instituto Curicaca and Guarani Yvyrupa Commission (CGY) have paused all operations in the region to support the communities they work with.
