Brumadinho (Brazil) (AFP)

One year after the breaking of a mining dam that had left 270 people dead in Brumadinho and four years after that of Mariana and her 19 killed, the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, still very marked, has strengthened security so as not to live again. such disasters.

After these two human and ecological tragedies, the authorities of this south-eastern state and the Vale group - implicated in the two accidents - implemented work and safety protocols so that the extraction of ore, activity which gave its name to this region, no longer be devastating.

On January 25, 2019, a gigantic mudslide engulfed the Brumadinho region after the rupture of a dam, recalling the collapse, not far from there, on November 5, 2015, of a dam for retaining ore residues from iron near Mariana, the worst ecological disaster ever seen in Brazil.

Throughout the country, the Brumadinho type dams, whose height increases with the accumulation of mine tailings, will have to be dismantled by 2023. And work is underway on dam sites in Minas Gerais considered "at risk" ", to secure them.

This state, where there are 428 mining dams, 26 of which are considered "at risk", also passed the "Sea of ​​Mud Never Again" law a month after the Brumadinho tragedy. The text tightens the conditions for obtaining the license allowing the activity of mining companies.

After Brumadinho, the Civil Defense also set up emergency evacuation plans for the areas close to the "at risk" dams. The firefighters, soldiers and police officers who make up the Civil Defense train the populations.

"For the moment, we have only been able to simulate an emergency situation in half of the risk zones", due to lack of time, said Lt. Col. Flavio Godinho, Civil Defense coordinator of the State. "Each inhabitant must know exactly where to go, after hearing the siren which would signal the rupture of a dam".

At Brumadinho last year, the siren did not sound.

- "Fear linked to the dam" -

But to see the risks really disappear, we will also have to rethink the way of extracting the ore.

In other states, "there are already so-called 'dry' extraction methods, with much less waste, therefore less water full of residues to be stored," explains the coordinator. It was the accumulation of water in the dam that had led to the rupture of that of Brumadinho.

Finally, in order not to put any life in danger, the extraction zones should be far from the inhabited districts, concludes lieutenant-colonel Godinho.

The village of Macacos, also in Minais Gerais, is surrounded by several dams, one of which entered a level 3 alert (maximum level) on February 16, 2019.

Residents, anxious just after the Brumadinho tragedy, immediately evacuated the premises. Even though it was a false alarm that day, more than 300 people living in exposed neighborhoods were relocated to hotels by Vale.

They are still there. This is the case of Sebastiana Gonçalves Leal. "We don't know if we will be able to return home one day or if Vale will compensate us so that we can buy another house," she said.

The locality lives in slow motion. "The fear linked to the dam has destroyed Macacos, there is no longer any activity here", continues the resident.

In the tourist town, almost all restaurants and cafes have closed.

"The Vale company says it has a plan to revitalize the city but tourists are afraid that the dam will fail," says Hellen Jesus de Souza, who herself lost her job at the Judith Bistrô, closed for lack of customers .

The people of Macacos nevertheless seem confident in the work in progress and the emergency evacuation plan. All over the streets, signs of "Evacuation route", installed by the Civil Defense, show the way to follow in case of emergency.

To avoid this situation, work funded by Vale is underway. A 30-meter-high stone retaining wall must be completed in December to contain a tailings spill if the dam breaks, Vale said.

© 2020 AFP