A balance sheet released today (1st) by the City Hall of Rio shows that 3 million people celebrated the New Year’s Eve on nine stages spread across the capital of Rio de Janeiro. In Copacabana alone, the public was over 2 million to receive 2023, on a night that marked the resumption of the New Year’s Eve party after two years of the covid-19 pandemic.
In addition to Copacabana and its 12-minute fireworks display, Penha, Flamengo, Recreio and Barra da Tijuca, Paquetá, Ilha do Governador, Ramos, Guaratiba, Sepetiba and Madureira also received public.
“It was an amazing night. After two years, the biggest New Year’s Eve of the world has returned, and we resume the party in Copacabana in all its splendor. Cariocas and tourists celebrated the arrival of 2023 in an atmosphere of peace, harmony, love and the sound of incredible artists from our country. Happy 2023 to all”, celebrated the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes.
According to the city hall, the New Year’s Eve 2023 had the participation of 30 public agencies. There were 195 professionals from CET-Rio to coordinate traffic on the streets and more than 1,500 agents and municipal guards for planning actions and support for traffic. And more than 4,400 garbage collectors, the largest number in history, were mobilized.
Copacabana received four medical stations, around 300 health professionals and more than 30 ambulances for assistance. And the celebrations were monitored by the new screens at the Rio Operations Center (COR), inaugurated yesterday, with a video wall made up of 125 55” screens, the largest in Latin America.
Waste
According to the Municipal Urban Cleaning Company (Comlurb), the New Year’s Eve in all official party spots in Rio de Janeiro generated 892 tons of waste. In Copacabana alone, the main stage of the party in the city, there were 444.5 tons, almost half of the total collected in the capital.
The total includes waste collected in the pre-cleaning on December 31, in preparation for the parties, which was a total of 27.9 tons, 17.2 of which in Copacabana alone. The numbers are higher than those of 2020, the last big New Year’s Eve party before the pandemic enacted, when 762 tons of waste were collected, 351 tons of which in Copacabana alone.
After Copacabana, the event that accumulated the most waste was in Barra da Tijuca, 137.2 tons. Ipanema, Leblon and São Conrado accounted for 75.3 tons of garbage. At Aterro do Flamengo there were 56.3 tons. Then, in quantity, come Recreio (52.9 tons), Ilha do Governador (38.9 tons), Botafogo / Urca (23.2 tons) and Paquetá (20.5 tons).
The company worked with 4,456 street cleaners distributed at all party points, with the support of 171 trucks, including compactors and tippers, 20 water pipes for washing the roads with reuse water, and over 67 pieces of equipment, such as mechanical shovels, mini shovels, medium-sized sweepers and beach tractors with rear implements for sand sifting.
Public order
1,517 agents were employed to supervise street vendors and carry out urban planning, with 355 municipal guards exclusively monitoring and inspecting traffic. In the actions, which began on Friday (30th) until this Sunday morning, 9,724 items were seized by the agents, such as 165 glass bottles, 14 power cables, two barbecue grills, ten carts, two soundboards, two amplifiers, four speakers, cylinders, grills, among others.
According to the Municipal Secretariat of Public Order, 540 fines were imposed, the majority for irregular parking, 1,363 illegal street vendors removed and 179 vehicles towed. In addition, 19 people were arrested and taken to the police station for various reasons, such as pedestrian theft and disrespect towards the agents at the time of the approach. There was also a record of a lost child, who was returned to those responsible.
Health
The structure set up by the Municipal Health Department on the Copacabana waterfront, with four medical posts, assisted 469 people from 5:30 pm on the 31st to 5:00 am on the 1st. Most patients suffered trauma (cuts, falls, blows) or discomfort, many due to excessive alcohol intake. Sixty patients needed to be transferred to network hospitals.
Around 300 professionals were involved in the health structure, including doctors, nurses, nursing technicians, operational/administrative staff at the posts, porters and teams of the 30 ambulances, made up of doctors, nurses and drivers.
