The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, announced new measures for the Contingency Plan for Heavy Rains, including the expansion of monitoring, warning and alarm systems for natural disasters, an increase in the number of operators of the Meteorological Monitoring System and the investment of around R$ 40 million for the construction of the Dom Pedro II Military Firefighter Academy, in Petrópolis, in the mountainous region of Rio.
This year, the government has already invested almost R$ 1.1 billion in the contingency plan, in addition to the budgets used by the secretariats for disaster prevention actions. The amount is almost four times higher than that committed in 2021, when around BRL 310 million was allocated to the initiatives.
Castro said that since the beginning of our administration, the state government has been working in an integrated and constant way to prevent disasters caused by heavy rains. “In the first year, we made a lot of progress in cleaning rivers, streams and canals. In 2022, we invested in social support for people affected by tragedies. and competence by our technicians”, he said.
In Petrópolis, the 20 existing sirens will be updated and 30 more will be installed. Angra dos Reis will also have 20 new sirens. In Rio Claro, there will be five new sirens and eight automatic rain gauges. In Paraty, there will be 11 new sirens and 11 rain gauges; in Nova Friburgo, four sirens. The estimated value for implementation and maintenance, for one year, is R$ 11.1 million.
The Secretary of the Civil House, Nicola Miccione, explained that “more than acting on the consequences of the rains, the biweekly monitoring carried out by the committee helped in the preparation, in order to avoid future problems. The committee has programmed a larger and more complete action for 2003. In this group, in addition to showing what each department does, we are concentrating efforts to prevent tragedies with management and responsibility. An important work, which avoids wasting resources and aims at the safety of the population”, he evaluated.
emergency simulation
Civil Defense plans for November emergency simulation actions for the eviction of public schools, vulnerable communities, in addition to the development of seminars and the creation of joint protocols with the Fire Department and the Department of Infrastructure. The objective is to promote self-protection and raise the necessary knowledge so that the population of Rio de Janeiro knows how to act in disaster scenarios.
The Secretary of Civil Defense, Colonel Leandro Monteiro informed that “we are constantly working to reformulate and update the State Contingency Plan for Heavy Rains. There are new protocols for standardization of municipal plans, redefinition of integration between agencies, definition of minimum standards for disaster response, creation of an index to measure municipal capacity in disaster risk management to improve service to the population of Rio de Janeiro”.
