Health Evaluation of the Barra Longa Population Affected by the Disaster in Mariana County

Abstract

In 2015, the rupture of Fundão tailing dam caused the largest mining disaster in Brazil. Barra Longa district was the second to bereached by the toxic mudslide. Its population represents one of the most exposed to the risks of environmental degradation. The aim of the present study is to identify the perception of the exposed population about its physical, mental and social health, and about the fulfilment of its needs, based on self-assessment. This is an exploratory, cross-sectional and descriptive study, based on interviews conducted with 507 residents from the urban and rural areas. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of the interviewees reported worse health condition now than before the disaster. Among the spontaneously reported health issues, one finds: respiratory issues (40%), skin conditions (15.8%), behavioral disorders (11%), infectious diseases (6.8%), ophthalmologic issues (6.3%) and digestive problems (3.1%). The five most reported symptoms were headache, cough, leg pain, pruritus and anxiety. The collected data gave voice to multivariate health complaints and to the vulnerability of the local population.

Composition of the social urban water shortage vulnerability index (SUWSVI) applied to São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

“…The dependents are the ones who spend most of the time inside the house and have a direct impact on the family's ability to find water sources because, besides the need for greater volume and extra cost per person, they have the less physical strength and accessibility (in the elderly the mobility difficulty is implicit) to help in the transportation and loading (ANAZAWA et al, 2013;SORJ et al, 2007;WOOD et al, 2021). The justification for the variable "Average Income of Head of Household" -VEC01 is that it reflects the ability of the head of household to cover the household budget (ANAZAWA et al, 2013;SORJ et al, 2007;TELLMAN et al, 2020;VORMITTAG et al, 2018;WOOD et al, 2021). We applied a linear transformation (Equations 1 and 2) to each defined variable (VEC1, VSOC1 and VSOC2), forcing a scale variation between 0 and 1 (ANAZAWA, 2012).…”

“…Regardless of size, these infrastructures are embedded in cities, bringing a perennial risk. Brazil has a history of mining dam disasters that have caused incalculable socioeconomic and environmental impacts and can take decades to recover (50 million m³ of iron ore mining tailings released into the Doce River from the collapse of the Fundão tailings dam in Mariana and 13 million m³ of tailings into the Paraopeba River from the Córrego do Feijão tailings dam in Brumadinho, both Minas Gerais State) (CIONEK et al, 2019;VORMITTAG et al, 2018). In the study region (city of São José dos Campos, State of São Paulo, Brazil), the water-related risk is due to the sedimentation dams of ancient sand mines.…”

Changes in dietary and water use habits after the Doce River contamination with mining tailings

“…The Doce River forms the easter boundary of the Doce River State Park (Figure 1), that protects a large remnant of Atlantic Forest. Furthermore, the disaster has caused social, economic and health impacts as well as hams in physical and cultural integrity of the many communities (Carmo et al, 2017;Felippe et al, 2016;Milanez et al, 2015;Vormittag et al, 2018;Wanderley et al, 2016a, b).…”