The Mariana Disaster occurred on November 5, 2015 and was the biggest environmental tragedy in the history of Brazil.
The accident was caused by the rupture of the Fundão Dam, used to store the iron ore tailings exploited by the company Samarco.
The event caused the destruction of the environment, contamination of the river, soil and a balance of 19 dead.
Disaster
On November 5, 2015, at 16:20, the Fundão Dam did not contain the 55 million cubic meters of mud that it stored inside and burst.
The mud arrived in just 15 minutes at the small town of Bento Rodrigues, located 8 km from the dam, with a population of 620 inhabitants. This city disappeared buried in the mud and today only the remains of what used to be houses remain.
For 16 days, the mud followed the 853 km bed of the Doce River and reached the riverside cities causing water scarcity, decreasing fishing, trade and tourism.
The mud reached the watershed on 21 November and the waste spread over a radius of 80 kilometers causing serious damage to the local industry.
In all, 39 municipalities in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo, where 1.2 million people live, live in these cities and have their lives affected. Another two thousand hectares of land were flooded and rendered useless for planting.
Samarco and the Mariana disaster
Samarco is a Brazilian iron ore extraction and processing company created in 1977 and managed by the Brazilian company Vale and the Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton.
The company generates three thousand direct jobs and about 3.4 thousand indirect jobs in Brazil and had a profit of 2.2 billion reais in 2014.
The company innovated the exploitation of iron ore using “pipelines”, that is, tunnels to transport the material extracted from the mountains of Minas Gerais.
Likewise, Samarco specialized in manufacturing iron ore pellets and reached a production of 30.5 million tons per year in 2014.
To extract iron ore it is necessary to separate it from the earth and eliminate waste. In this process, companies must adapt these wastes to appropriate dams following safety standards.
After the disaster, the company claimed that it strictly followed the rules and that the dams underwent periodic government inspections.
However, there are suspicions that several environmental licenses and inspections have been approved as an exchange of favor from the company to politicians interested in financing their election campaigns.
The company was fined by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment) by R $ 250 million, however, in 2017 it had only paid about 1% of that amount.
Environmental impacts of the Mariana disaster
The environmental consequences of the Mariana disaster were so severe that researchers are still looking for answers to understand the effects of the action and how nature can be restored.
Mud and mining waste traveled more than 600 km to reach the Atlantic Ocean, where they resulted in environmental impacts on the marine ecosystem, especially coral reefs.
During the mudslide, most of the fish died and as a result 26 species disappeared from the area. Meanwhile, land animals like small mammals and amphibians have been buried in the mud. The trees near the stretches of the rivers were uprooted by water or were submerged.
The mud also prevented photosynthesis from being carried out by phytoplankton, the base of the aquatic food chain, and contaminated fish and other organisms. The affected rivers also had changes in their physical characteristics, such as a decrease in depth, destruction of riparian forest and burial of springs.
The soil was contaminated by the flood of mud, making it infertile and preventing the development of plant species. The chemical composition of the soil has changed and it is not known how and how long it will take to recover.
Much research indicates that restoration of the area is impossible. Thus, local biodiversity was irreversibly lost, with severe environmental consequences for nature and the human population that depended on natural resources.
Figures of Mariana’s tragedy
| Amount of Mud | 62 million m 3 |
|---|---|
| Affected Cities | 41 |
| Fatal Victims | 19 |
| Homeless Families | 600 |
| Destroyed Vegetation | 1469 hectares |
| Dead Fish | 14 tons |
| Unemployment Rate in the Region | 23.5% |
| Legal Proceedings Against Samarco, Vale and BHP | 22 |
| Environmental Recovery Forecast | Year 2032 |
Economic impact of the Mariana disaster
Mariana’s disaster left thousands of fishermen without jobs. In Linhares (ES), fishing has been prohibited since 2015.
With the shutdown of Samarco, the state of Espírito Santo was affected, as the company accounted for 5.8% of Espírito Santo’s GDP and generated 20 thousand direct and indirect jobs.
The southern cities of Espírito Santo, such as Guarapari and Anchieta, saw their revenue drop dramatically and several suppliers lost their biggest customer.
Lawsuits against Samarco
After the environmental disaster, the Public Ministry filed a lawsuit against the mining companies responsible for the Fundão Dam.
One of the means found to repair the damage and speed up those affected was to create the Renova Foundation. This entity includes civil, government and mining company representatives who work together to find a solution to Mariana’s tragedy.
On June 26, 2018, a new agreement was reached between the mining companies and the Public Ministry. This provided for changes in the Renova Foundation board, production of independent technical reports and the establishment of local commissions to evaluate the progress of the recovery programs.
However, this decision suspends the 20 billion reais lawsuit that was being filed against the mining companies, as well as another one in 2017, amounting to 155 billion reais.
Rio Doce Recovery
On September 20, 2018, a research task force was launched to measure the environmental impacts caused by mud contamination.
Called “Rio Doce Mar” it is a collaborative project between 24 research institutions coordinated by the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Ufes).
Researchers will collect data to assess the level of water, sediment, plant and fish poisoning. Every six months reports will be prepared with results indicating the possible solutions to the problems encountered.