O desastre de Brumadinho e a atuação da Vigilância em Saúde

Abstract

The dam belonged to the Vale S.A. mining company and was located in the municipality of Brumadinho, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais state. The dam had been inactive since 2015 and stored 12 million cubic meters of mud containing iron mining tailings. The mud immediately struck the mining company's facilities at the site, including an administration complex, a canteen, maintenance workshops, a loading terminal and a railway. The company initially stated that there were some 300 workers at the facilities when the dam burst. A nearby village and a hostel were also directly affected where there were several dozen people at the time. Just minutes later-when it had already claimed dozens of lives and left a trail of destruction-, the huge wave of contaminated mud reached the bed of the River Paraopeba. The Ministry of Health (MoH) took immediate action and began working in an integrated manner with Brumadinho city government and with Minas Gerais state government, as well as with other Federal Government bodies, in order to ensure the best possible health care for the affected population. Professionals of the Brazilian Health System National Taskforce (FN-SUS), 1 jointly comprised by the MoH Health Surveillance Secretariat (SVS) and Health Care Secretariat (SAS), traveled to Brumadinho to support emergency management, health care, water quality surveillance and occupational health actions. A temporary First Aid Station was set up near to the site and, shortly after the dam burst, all the region's Urgent Mobile Care Service (SAMU 192) teams were mobilized. Kits of medication and strategic supplies, vaccines, as well as 150 hospital beds were made available to meet the needs of the affected population. In addition, four-wheel drive vehicles were donated to the governments of Brumadinho city and Minas Gerais state to reinforce health surveillance actions in hard-to-reach areas hit by the mud. Just over an hour after the disaster, SVS set up a Public Health Emergency Operations Center (COES), 2 with assistance from the MoH Health Care Secretariat, Executive Secretariat and Indigenous Health Secretariat; complementing this, SVS technical departments were also brought into action. Some 70 health professionals worked to provide support to field actions and management of the emergency health plan, in actions carried out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, until they were demobilized on March 14 th. SVS' Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Surveillance (DSAST), 3 which coordinates the COES, began monitoring the direct and indirect impacts on the population related to the chemical contamination of drinking water, food and soil; the damage to water supply networks and alternative sources of water supply; the alteration in the cycle of disease vectors, hosts and reservoirs; and the alteration in forms of environmental exposure. It also provided additional support to the Betim/MG Occupational Health Reference Center (CEREST), designated as the reference service for support a...

Strengths and Weaknesses of a Hybrid Post-disaster Management Approach: the Doce River (Brazil) Mine-Tailing Dam Burst

“…We already observed a similar disaster in Brazil recently e.g. (Oliveira et al 2019) and they will continue to happen if action is not taken at the national level. Contingency plans are instrumental in preventing and minimizing environmental impacts along the entire fluvial-estuarine-marine continuum, and policy-making need to focus more on prevention at source (Lu et al 2015).…”

Projeto Saúde Brumadinho: aspectos metodológicos e perfil epidemiológico dos participantes da linha de base da coorte

“…Ressalta-se que o conhecimento produzido por este estudo deve se articular com outras iniciativas, de modo que contribua para o entendimento multidimensional do desastre ocorrido em Brumadinho, considerando a natureza complexa desses eventos 14 , e para o atendimento das prioridades do Marco de Sendai para Redução de Riscos de Desastres -2015-2030 14,48 . Por fim, é importante mencionar a necessidade de uma atuação coordenada das diversas esferas do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e de ações intersetoriais, para atender de forma adequada as populações expostas ao risco de desastres, elevando o sucesso das ações de recuperação da saúde humana e dos danos ambientais, em consonância com diversos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, contribuindo para o alcance do estabelecido na Agenda 2030 49,50 .…”

Relações entre saúde e ambiente: potenciais impactos decorrentes do rompimento de barragens de rejeitos – uma revisão da literatura nos casos de Mariana e Brumadinho, MG

“…Devido à gravidade da situação e à persistência dos danos, é preciso o acompanhamento da população afetada (incluindo os trabalhadores) e o monitoramento dos impactos, uma vez que mais danos podem ocorrer aos indivíduos residentes nas áreas afetadas; e o Departamento de Vigilância em Saúde Ambiental e Saúde do Trabalhador (DSAST) passa a desempenhar um importante papel nesse sentido (Oliveira et al, 2019b).…”