Brasilia (EFE).- The Brazilian authorities located this Sunday another five bodies among the damage left by the rains that a week ago punished the coast of Sao Paulo, bringing the total number of deaths to 64, and there is still one missing person.
The regional government of Sao Paulo explained in a statement that they found the last five victims in Sao Sebastiao, the city most affected by the storms that last weekend raged in that tourist region, located between the sea and a mountain range. .
Also in a humble neighborhood of Sao Sebastiao, rescuers were looking for the last missing person this Sunday, who is feared to have been the victim of a landslide caused by the rains in a mountain region occupied irregularly for the last decades despite the risk posed by the construction .
The regional government specified that, of the 64 dead, so far they have identified 55. They are 20 men, 17 women and 18 children.
All the deaths were registered in Sao Sebastiao, except for one, which occurred in the neighboring city of Ubatuba.
Attention to victims in Sao Paulo
The authorities indicated that, a week after the disaster and with the searches almost concluded, “the priority now is to help the families of the victims” and the care of 2,440 people who have lost their homes or have had to abandon them because they are in areas “unstable” that still present “high levels of risk”.
These people remain temporarily housed in shelters, churches, schools and gyms in Sao Sebastiao, Ubatuba and four other cities, where they receive personal attention from the Armed Forces and municipal governments.
The rains began on the night of Saturday, February 18, and for almost 48 hours they punished the entire coastline of Sao Paulo, at a time when that region was packed with tourists and most of Brazil was given over to Carnival festivities, the most popular in the country
The federal government, in cooperation with the Sao Paulo authorities, has allocated substantial financial aid to the region, which will partly focus on building houses in safe places, which will go to those who lost their homes.
Also moved to the area, and remains anchored off the coast of Sao Sebastiao, a Navy aircraft carrier, which since last Thursday has served as a floating hospital and has 300 beds and fifty doctors, which have alleviated the situation in the saturated health centers of the city.
