Brazil firefighters to help Mozambique cyclone victims
Minas Gerais state is to send 20 experts in search and salvage operations and disaster management to the region affected by cyclone Idai in Mozambique. The agents are expected to take off on Friday (Mar. 29).
The firefighters have been requested by the government to take part in the first stage of humanitarian assistance in Mozambique. They will use the expertise acquired during rescue operations in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, after the collapse of the Mina do Feijão dam, controlled by mining giant Vale, on January 25. Search efforts in Brumadinho helped locate 395 people, with 88 still missing. The death toll stands at 216.
The initiative in Mozambique will not be hinder the work in Brumadinho, an official note from the Minas Gerais Fire Department said. “Our teams’ rotation scheme already considered this and other possibilities for support.”
The 20 agents are experts in rescues following landslides, floods, and the collapse of buildings and other structures, and in air operations. They will be based in Beira and Dondo, the two cities most severely affected by the disaster. Operations are originally set to last 15 days.
“The Minas Gerais team is known worldwide for this kind of activity, with expertise in repeated floods that have assailed Minas Gerais. Moreover, during the operation in Brumadinho, once again the efficiency of the techniques used here served as example for other search and salvage teams around the world, including Israel,” the note reads.
Agents will be taken to the African country on an Armed Forces airplane, along with two boats, two pickup trucks, three drones equipped with thermal imagers, and a number of other tools expected to make their work autonomous.
