Bento Rodrigues district, in the city of Mariana (MG), Brazil, on November 4, 2016, one year after the dam burst disaster which released millions of tonnes of toxic mud causing a trail of 500 km of destruction until the Atlantic Ocean. The dam is owned by Samarco, which is a junction between mining companies Vale and BHP Billiton. Photo: Mourao Panda/Fotoarena/SIPA USA/PA Images. All rights reserved.
Article originally published in GlobalAmericas. You can read the original content here.
The worst environmental tragedy in Brazil’s history occurred on the fifth of November, 2015. Two dams from an iron mine owned by Samarco S.A.— a BHP Billiton and Vale’s joint venture—collapsed, leaving an unprecedented path of destruction. The tragedy took place in Mariana, located in the heart of the Minas Gerais state, a region whose history was always defined by mining activities. The waste transformed the rural villages of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu into ghost towns. Many springs were buried and the Doce River—one of the main waterways in southeastern Brazil—became a sea of mud approximately 850 kilometers wide, beginning at the eastern side of Minas Gerais and crossing all the way through Espirito Santo state untill the Abrolhos island.
