Maceió neighborhoods still in limbo despite proposed deal
Nobody else dares to go to the upper floor of the house, where the bedrooms are located. Before going to sleep, Jucilda Sobral joins all beds at the center of the living room on the ground floor, as far as possible from the cement staircase. "If the ground sinks, the steps won't fall on me. I'm paranoid about protecting my face." Surrounded by patched-up walls, the woman is often slow to fall asleep. She doesn't know whether the increasing silence of the neighborhood's nights is causing it, but she thinks she can hear crackles coming from the floor.
It has been like this in the life of 51-year-old Ms. Sobral since March 3 of 2018, when an earthquake hit the Maceió neighborhood of Pinheiro and three others nearby (Mutange, Bebedouro and Bom Parto). The quake caused cracks in hundreds of houses and streets, sinking buildings and leaving behind fenced-off areas. Residents remain deeply distressed.
The Geological Survey of Brazil (CPRM) concluded in May that Braskem's wells to extract rock salt - used in the making of caustic soda and PVC - near the neighborhoods were the main culprit for the earth tremors.
Almost two years after the tremor, Braskem announced an agreement, involving the Federal Prosecution Service (MPF), the Prosecution Service of Alagoas (MPE Alagoas) and the Federal Public Defender's Office (DPU) and Alagoas Public Defenders' Office (DPE Alagoas) to relocate and reimburse 17,000 of the 40,000 people living in the neighborhoods.
The company, although not admitting any blame, is willing to support the evacuation of 4,500 properties with an overall financial compensation estimated at R$1.7 billion. But the problem may be greater. The CPRM report found that 10,000 houses in the neighborhoods are at risk. A lawsuit filed by the Public Defender's Office demands a solution for the remaining 5,500 properties that are outside the agreement. The 3rd Federal Court will hear the suit of Alagoas, but there's no trial date yet.
Pinheiro and Bebedouro are middle-class neighborhoods, while Mutange and Bom Parto are poor. At least 2,200 families have already left the neighborhoods - many are receiving rent vouchers from the Federal Government worth R$1,000 a month - and the scenario today is post-apocalyptic. Several walls show graffiti asking for justice for residents amid abandoned pets, shuttered schools and closed gas stations. Without security, after daylight falls, several abandoned houses have been vandalized - some more than once...
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