The Miracle of Fish and Katrina

It is interesting to observe how everything in nature is connected. Well, pretty much everything in life is connected. The same conditions that permitted Katrina to be formed now have caused the biggest draught in North Brazil for the last 50 years. Even more interesting is that this drought is not located in one of our desert regions (sertoão), but rather the drought is in the biggest river (by volume) in the world: The Amazon River

The Amazon River comes in a mere second when it comes to length (although depending on the season it beats the Nile by a few miles), but it is by far the widest. The Amazon alone produces approximately 20 percent of all river water that is poured into the entire world’s oceans. The Amazon has so much volume that one can find fresh water in the Atlantic 200 kilometers off the coast of Brazil.

It is shameful to observe what the Brazilian Government is doing (or not doing) to help the people affected in light of this natural disaster. Only after two months are food and medication being sent to the people who live in the affected area.

This is the current situation in the Amazon region and its tributary rivers:

• 120 “peixes-boi” (the Amazonian manatee, which is an endangered species) have already died;

• There is a risk of a new Cholera epidemic;

• More than 32,000 families are isolated without fresh food or water;

• Most schools are closed (a good portion of the transportation is made by boat);

• 61 cities have declared a state of emergency;

• Some cities will still have to wait 10 more days to receive help;

• More than a thousand fishermen are out of work;

• Thousands of fish are dieing, rotting, and polluting the main source of life to this region.

Yes, the situation will soon get better since the Flood Season is supposed to arrive in less than a month. But what about the suffering all those people are going through because no one cares to help? Where are all the forecast alerts, the funds to help the poor families, sensationalistic news segments, famous people “giving a hand” or crying on TV?
Why is no one helping or caring? Is it because it was not fast like a hurricane? Is it because people are dying slowly? Is it because Brazilians do not care about their own fellow countrymen? Are people dying too slow to make the news? Why? I really wish I knew the answer.
It makes me ashamed to admit that I read the news about the drought in BBC UK. I even tried to find something in BBC Brazil, but they were too worried about Hurricane Wilma, Saddam, and the baby that was born in front of the cameras of Big Brother. It took me some effort to find out what is really happening. It was even more embarrassing to realize that the drought started in August, and I am now just reading about it. Where are the reporters? Where are the newspapers? Where are the television cameras?

Where are the Brazilians who care about other Brazilians? I read the news everyday, why was I not informed?




Picture 1: Wikipedia
Picture 2: BBC Americas