Community, University and Government Interactions for Disaster Reduction in the Mountainous Region of Rio de Janeiro, Southeast of Brazil

Abstract

In January 2011, an extreme rainfall event took place in the Mountainous Region of the state of Rio de Janeiro causing a catastrophic landslide that resulted in more than 1500 deaths. This event marked a new challenge for disaster reduction in Brazil and introduced several measures for risk management. The dialogue gap between government and the local population could possibly explain the failure of the current risk management model, pointing at the urgent need to integrate actions from the government, the civil society and universities. Nonetheless, a top-down government model still prevails, and communities at risk remain distant from decision makers. This lack of interaction led to local self-organization, like the Córrego Dantas Neighborhood Residents Association (CDNRA), greatly affected by the 2011 disaster. In 2014, CDNRA and the GEOHECO research team started to develop new tools for a better dialogue with the local government. These groups recognized two fundamental needs: (1) to integrate both scientific and popular knowledge in developing a new methodology for risk evaluation and management and, (2) to integrate effective risk management actions with the actions of other disaster-related institutions, including universities, communities, NGOs and the government. Invited institutions attended the 1st Seminar on Landslide Risk Management at the Córrego Dantas Neighborhood. As a result, a multi-institutional network (called Córrego Dantas RIsk MAnagement Network) was founded to provide new tools for the identification of potential landslide disaster areas, as well as to introduce a new design for planning, according to the interests of the community. In this chapter, we describe former procedures and local studies, which have guided the development of CD-RIMAN and the establishment of its main goals.