There are more people affected by Samarco’s Mud

The photograph reporter Joka Madruga* visited two affected communities by the Samarco’s mud, where residents are living uncertainty about their future. While still living in their homes, they also suffered damages with the tragedy. They are organizing within MAB to fight for their rights.

Residents of subdistricts of Pedras and Campinas, in the municipality of Mariana (MG), report the day when the mud of ore tailings reached the town after the breakup of the Fundão dam, owned by Samarco, a company of the giant mining companies Vale and BHP Billiton. Everyone we talked here said that they have not received any alert of the company that the mud would reach the community. A man on a motorcycle, father of one of the workers at Vale, have alerted the families. But some families did not belive in it. In this region there are people that stayed 5 days isolated, because by one side the mud had covered the highway and the other side the mud had taken the bridge.

Below are some reports:

Clodoaldo Carneiro, a dairy farmer, rented a pasture neighbor to keep his animals. Before the tragedy he produced about 400 liters milk per day. Now it’s average of 250. Carneiro and his mother have 193 hectares of land, half of which is swallowed by the mud of Vale/BHP-Billiton, only the land on the hill is safe. He and his mother were warned at seven o’clock at night, (the dam break occurred around for pm), when they arrived home, which stays on a hill and that’s why isn’t destroyed. The mud reached Pedras around nine pm and shortly before that the bridge was taken away by the mud.

About the work of the Movement of Dam Affected People (MAB) in organizing the people to fight for their rights, he is emphatic: “everything that is organized and makes the people come together, with no one to take advantage, is valid.” He declined to be photographed, but his eyes betrayed his indignation.

For the family farmer Manoel da Silva, he has more work to give water to the cattle, because the river his cattle used to drink water is now under mud.

Manoel da Silva

Maria Goreti said the animals stayed five days without food. “The animals (dairy cows) were looking at us and screaming asking for food. They do not like the grass on the hill, they want to stay in the grassland near the river (which is covered in mud)”.

Maria Goreti

Cristiana Aparecida, she’s a health agent in Pedras, she can’t sleep worried due to the mud blocking the highway and the bridge. “I lay down and start thinking and if someone gets sick? It’s not possible to get out of here fastly. My daughter is taking two hours more to arrive home from school, because the bus driver must take a very long way. I hope they repair the bridge fastly.”

Cristiana Aparecida

Maria Macedo, a farmer and her husband have been warned by the “man on a motor”, but they did not believe. They only realized what lay ahead when she heard the sound of falling mud. “I heard a crack at the waterfall that shook everything, I untied the dogs that were tied up, picked up the documents and went up the hill. There we stayed until daybreak, when the mud had layed down. We lost chickens, ducks, a mowing machine, manioc, corn, beans and hoes.

Maria Macedo

The Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) exists for more than 20 years organizing people affected by the greed of few. MAB defends that all those affected have the right to be repaired in an equal or better situation before affected and that all decisions should be taken by those affected.

“The people of Pedras are organized in MAB”, says the poster.

*Joka Madruga is photograph reporter, director of Sindijor-PR, editor of the site Terra Sem Males and voluntary of MAB in Mariana (MG).