Pressured by those affected, Samarco (Vale/BHP) fastens process of moving to houses

Due to the pressure of those affected by the waste produced by Samarco’s dam (Vale/BHP Billiton), the mining company has pledged to speed up the moving of the dislodged families from the hotel to the houses rented by the company in the city of Mariana (Minas Gerais). The change in the rhythm of the transferences has been announced during a meeting with the committee of inhabitants from the affected communities, on December 1^st.

To streamline the moving from the hotels to houses was one of the main points in the emergency agenda elaborated those affected with the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB). The previous calendar of moving, presented by the company last week, was of 25 families per week, which meant that the last families would be living in hotels until February (around 300 families in total). With the demand of the affected, the company have committed to move 50 families per week. 

Meeting of the committee of the affected with representatives of Samarco

MAB, Mariana´s Archdiocese and the Public Ministry consider that the fastening of the moving from hotels to the houses is positive although still insufficient. “Our demand is that no family will be spending Christmas living in a hotel and we believe that Samarco has the means to guarantee that”, said Joceli Andrioli, of the MAB.

The affected families organized a petition last week to demand that the families will be transferred to rented houses until, at its most, December 20th. The petition gathered more than 200 signatures and was handed in yesterday to the Prosecutor of the County of Mariana, Guilherme Meneghin.

Inhabitants of the Pedras community shows the petition demanding emergency measures

“I think no family here at the hotel is liking to stay here. Everybody would like to be in their own house, right? Now everyone is scattered around in hotels”, says Célis Felício, inhabitant of Bento Rodrigues, staying at the Providência hotel.

“Here in the hotel we have assistance, but I would be better off if I were at home, because I have always done everything even being like this”, tells Elisângela Aparecida Messias, who also lived in the district of Bento Rodrigues. Pregnant and with her son due at this month, she questions if the priorities for the placements are being met by Samarco. “They said that pregnant women, elderly and people with children had priority, but the first people who left here [the hotel] were just couples”, she says. 

Inhabitants of Bento Rodrigues collect signatures for petition

In the petition those affected also demand the card with the value for maintenance, until now, the people affected are living off donations. The company also pledged to speed up this process for this week. The demand of a bonus so that the families can sole emergency issues (another point of the emergency agenda present in the petition) is still being discussed.