Teresopolis

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on January 22nd, 2011
Firefighters digging for bodies at Manuel's house [Maria Elena Romero/Al Jazeera]

Manuel Antonio de Oliveira is a man with a leathery face, calloused hands and sunken eyes. He is a proud man of the working-class.

He is not rich by any means; maybe lower middle class, by Brazilian standards. He couldn’t afford to pay for private university education for his kids. But it doesn't take a lot of money to raise kids right and instill good values, which he tried to do. And Manuel knows a thing or two about building stuff.

So Manuel worked double shifts and saved up money for years to be able to buy building supplies. And once he had the cash, he then, little by little, built a home for his family. It was located in the remote mountains outside the weekend vacation town of Teresopolis in Rio de Janeiro state.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on January 17th, 2011
Photo by AFP

The death toll has reached 649 from the floods and landslides that wiped out much of Brazil's Serrana region of Rio de Janeiro state. Of those, 271 are from Teresopolis, where I have been since Wednesday night of last week.

It’s easy – too easy – to get caught up in the phrase "death toll", like it’s some abstract numbering of an algorithm. It’s not. And I was reminded when I visited the cemetery in Teresopolis.  It’s been turned into something more like a mass grave.

When we arrived, it was raining and cold. Gravediggers could not dig the holes fast enough to put in coffins.

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