The Federal Regional Court of the 6th region, in Belo Horizonte, decided on Wednesday night (24) that residents of cities in Espírito Santo will be included in the list of those affected by the mud from the Samarco dam.
It was also decided that the Interfederative Committee, the CIF, created in response to the disaster caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam, owned by the mining company Samarco, in 2015 in the municipality of Mariana (MG), can decide and impose fines if the resolutions are not complied with.
The CIF had already recognized, in 2017, that dozens of communities in the municipalities of São Mateus, Colatina, Linhares, Aracruz and Povoação had been harmed by the dam collapse. However, the companies involved challenged this decision and went to court.
The trial took place amid protests in front of the Court’s headquarters, carried out by around 200 people affected by the disaster. Fabricio Caldeira Alves, resident of the municipality of Conceição da Barra, in Espírito Santo, talks about the consequences that the cities have been facing since the dam burst.
“We expect a response that matches the impact the company has made on our communities. It left our fish contaminated, the death rate of people increased a lot due to the issue of heavy metals, and many people are dying of cancer within our territory. For those of us involved in fishing, it is very difficult to deal with the situation. To this day, we are no longer able to sell our fish. They are staying in the freezer or, we keep this food at home, but we are afraid to eat it or give it to our children”, he said.
Cláudia Monteiro, who lives in São Mateus, on the north coast of Espírito Santo, highlights the importance of recognizing affected municipalities.
“We are already nine years into this fight. To this day, there are fishermen within these communities who have not yet received anything. They find it difficult to support their families. We believe that from now on many things can be changed and improved in this situation,” he said.
What the Renova Foundation says
The Renova Foundation, maintained by the companies Samarco, Vale and BHP, responsible for mobilizing to repair the damage caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam, stated in a statement that the repair began shortly after the collapse of the Fundão dam.
The company says that by March 2024, R$35.80 billion had been allocated to repair and compensation actions. Of this amount, R$14.18 billion went to the payment of compensation and R$2.78 billion in Emergency Financial Aid, totaling R$16.96 billion in 442.7 thousand agreements.
534 cases of restitution of the right to housing were also resolved by handing over the property or paying compensation. Another 178 already have a defined solution, out of a total of 729 houses, businesses, farms, lots and collective assets. Integrated forest restoration, spring recovery and sanitation actions are taking place throughout the basin and aim to improve water quality.
The collapse of the dam in Mariana occurred on November 5, 2015. Nineteen people died and around 40 million cubic meters of mining waste destroyed communities and contaminated the Doce River.
