AFP - The president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff declared Saturday a national mourning for three days after torrential rains that killed more than 600 dead in the mountains near Rio where desperate people are facing chaos and shortages.
According to the latest report from the Civil Defense, at least 610 people perished in this disaster, one of the worst in Brazilian history.
On the other hand, 14,000 people are homeless in this agricultural region and resort to a hundred kilometers from Rio, where peaks rising to 2,200 meters.
Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday sent a message of solidarity to the victims and families of victims posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Rio, where he said he was "appalled by the tragic consequences of heavy rains and expressed his" spiritual solidarity to the people Rio.
A seven-day mourning was also declared in the State of Rio in memory of the victims most of whom were surprised in their sleep by the rivers of mud that took everything in their path.
A Teresopolis, 100 km from Rio, where 263 deaths were counted, people buried their dead.
In the municipal cemetery "a dog, Leao, do not leave the grave of his mistress, Maria Cristina Santana, buried two days ago," said one undertaker told AFP.
Inside the morgue, "it's like a horror movie," he told AFP a voluntary worker, Michelle Tosetti.
The bodies are so decomposed that medical examiners do more photo identification for fear of scaring the families of survivors and also because the photos are not used for anything, "she said.
Now, families are asked to describe the tattoos and any particular sign. In some cases, DNA testing by saliva are made.
The rain had stopped resumed in the afternoon.The soil remains saturated with water and the risks of further landslides remains high.A dozen agricultural areas are still isolated and as relief overtook them, the death toll rise, firefighters have warned.
"I think at the end of it all, we have over a thousand bodies," said Mauricio Berlim, a municipal cemetery sexton.
The Secretary of Health, Solange Sirico, warned against "the risk of epidemics such as hepatitis and leptospirosis.
She also asked people "not to drink well water is contaminated" and it appealed for donations of medical supplies and volunteer doctors.
A Nova Friburgo where 274 people were killed, the streets of this peaceful city, founded by Swiss emigrants in the early nineteenth century and valued by Cariocas for its mild climate, back images of ruins and chaos.
The people trying to leave the city, but gasoline is rationed and the road is dangerous because the yield point in several places.
Important economic consequences ahead: it was already very difficult to find fresh vegetables in Rio, the region serrana (mountain) is the main vegetable production area of the state of Rio.
The tourism sector has already lost 30 million dollars, said the vice-president of the Brazilian Hotel, Michel Chertouh.
This tragedy has generated a wave of solidarity throughout the country. Twenty tons of food were collected by Civil Defense and Rio several hundred people gave their blood.
