Somente há poucos dias satélite da NASA conseguiu boas fotos com poucas nuvens sobre as consequências das chuvas na região serrana do Rio de Janeiro. A 1ª foto acima é anterior à tragédia (24/05/2010). Na 2ª foto, tomada em idêntica posição em 02/02/2011, há muitas dezenas de linhas claras que indicam as encostas dos morros que ruiram em vasta área.
Transcrevo a seguir artigo publicado no “Google Earth Blog”, em 8 de fevereiro de 2011:
IMAGERY FROM THE LANDSLIDES IN BRAZIL
“Back in mid-January, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and other areas of Brazil expereinced devastating mudslides as the result of nearly 10 inches of rain in a single day. The landslides are reported to have killed nearly 1000 people, and have left at least 8,700 homeless. Since then, NASA has been attempting to capture fresh imagery of the area but has been unable to due to satellite imagery's biggest nemesis -- clouds.
The situation is similar to the flooding in Pakistan last year; Google wanted to provide imagery of the area to assist those that were trying to help, but they were unable to get any for quite a while due to persistent cloud cover.
Fortunately, clouds broke a few days ago and NASA's EO-1 satellite was able to capture some remarkable images of the area.
After weeks of persistent cloud cover, the skies above Brazil finally cleared enough for satellites to take stock of the mudslides that devastated the states of Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo in mid-January.
The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s EO-1 satellite captured these true-color images of the hills north and west of Teresópolis, Brazil, on February 2, 2011 (top), and May 24, 2010. In both images, forested land is dark green, while land that has been cleared is light green. The 2011 image shows dozens of tan stripes where the hillsides have been overrun by mudslides, usually within or adjacent to those light green patches.
Nearly a month’s worth of rain —26 centimeters (10 inches)— fell on January 12 in the Serra do Mar mountain region and the nearby cities of Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo. The downpours provoked flash floods and sent rivers of mud flowing down steep hillsides, killing 860 people and leaving at least 8,700 homeless. 429 people have not yet been accounted for, according to Agencia Brazil, the state news service.
The unusually heavy rains were attributed by some meteorologists to La Niña, but human activity likely exacerbated the scale of the disaster. Rapid population growth in the area has led Brazilians to build favelas (self-built settlements) on the steep slopes above Teresópolis. Those structures have been built on previously forested land, so the reduced tree cover has diminished the ability of the soil to hold water and the hills to hold onto the soil. Many of the houses lost, according to reports, were built on slopes of 45 degrees or more or in the buffer zones around rivers and streams. The Brazilian Forest Code officially forbids building in such areas.
In the wake of the floods and mudslides, the Brazilian government is now planning a nationwide disaster-prevention and early-warning system. Planning Minister Miriam Belchior announced that the government also will spend 6.7 billion real ($4 billion U.S.) through 2014 on water-drainage and hillside-recovery projects across the country.
More immediately, the Rio de Janeiro state highway department has estimated it will cost at least $R293 million ($170 million U.S.) to repair roads. And Rodrigo Neves, Rio state secretary of social assistance and human rights, announced that 5,000 families must move to safer ground.”
FONTE: Google Earth Blog (http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2011/02/imagery_from_the_landslides_in_braz.html).
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