FEATURE-Going under? Brazil s hospitals at risk as climate change brings more floods
Extreme weather, like the floods that ravaged the Maria Tereza Apprilante Gimenez Basic Healthcare Unit in Rafard, are increasingly a threat throughout the region as climate change takes hold - and are creating an additional burden for health workers struggling to battle the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Pan American Health Organization, almost 70% of the 18,000 hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in areas highly vulnerable to floods, major earthquakes or hurricanes.Reuters | Brasilia | Updated: 09-03-2021 09:13 IST | Created: 09-03-2021 07:23 IST
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI
Struck by Amazon fires, Brazilians say they want greater environmental protection Reuters 2/5/2021
By Meghie Rodrigues
SAO PAULO, Feb 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than three-quarters of Brazilians think Amazon rainforest fires have hurt the country s image - and that environmental protection should become a priority for the country, even at an economic cost, a new survey has found.
The study on climate change views, organized by Brazil s Institute of Technology and Society and the U.S.-based Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, found younger Brazilians in particular see global warming as a major threat to their lives now, as well as in the future.
Coastal Brazil Is Likely to Face More Heat Waves and Droughts
In 2014, São Paulo experienced its greatest water crisis ever, caused by an intense drought. New research indicates that it is likely to happen again and be even more severe.
By November 2014, the Cantareira system, the main water supply source to the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, had its reservoirs hit 8% of its capacity, an all-time low. Credit: Mídia Ninja/Flickr, CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 11 December 2020
In early 2014, the Cantareira system, the main reservoir that feeds São Paulo, hit less than 10% of its capacity because of intense heat and drought, forcing Brazil’s most populated region to severely restrict its water consumption. Scientists working to understand the phenomenon say droughts like this can happen again and are likely to hit the region even harder.