23/09/2019
Mariana’s Civil Defense, in partnership with the State Civil Defense, the Military Fire Department, the Military Police, the Municipal Guard and Samarco, held an emergency drill on Saturday morning (21) in the districts of Mariana – Camargos, Ponte do Range, Paracatu de Cima, Paracatu de Baixo, Pedras, Borba and Campinas. The objective was to train communities and municipal and state officers on how to act in emergency situations. In all, 248 residents participated in the drill, an increase of about 30% compared to last year. The activity started at 9am, when the sirens went off in all districts.
The main novelty this year was the participatory planning of the action, with the presence of two representatives from each community and Mariana secretaries of the Drill Management Committee.
The drill follows the rules and procedures that make up the Samarco Mining Dams Emergency Action Plan. The training is the responsibility of Mariana’s Civil Defense and counts on the support of Samarco, which provided the infrastructure, vehicles and the involvement of about 60 employees, as well as facilitators.
According to Samarco’s emergency drills coordinator, Melissa Manger, drills are important for developing a culture of emergency preparedness and prevention.
“Actions like today’s are much needed, because this is when the municipal and state civil defenses measure and evaluate the emergency response time of the Military Fire Department, Military Police and Municipal Guard, besides the level of engagement of the communities. This year, the creation of the Drill Management Committee meant a big step forward. Each community has two representatives that participate, besides staff members of the municipal secretariats. With the committee, we were able to involve the districts in defining the scope of the drill, making it a participatory and collective process”, said Melissa. The coordinator also pointed out that this year a plan was developed especially for people with a handicap.
According to Mariana’s Civil Defense coordinator, Webert Stopa, the increase in residents’ participation was positive. “Civil Defense seeks to empower the entire community and we have seen our residents partner up. This drill exceeded our expectations,” he said.
Another novelty this year was the participation by the Municipal Health Department, measuring the blood pressure and glucose levels of the residents. Moreover, small animals, such as dogs and cats, received the rabies vaccine and large animals will be registered for further care by the Municipal Secretariat of Agriculture.
Last Thursday (19), a drill was also performed in the town of Barra Longa and the districts of Barreto and Gesteira, and two schools – one municipal and one state – participated in the activity. In all, 607 people participated in the drill, including residents, organizers and members of response agencies. In the municipality, the participation of residents was 30.5% higher than last year. The action, a responsibility of the municipality’s Civil Defense, was also supported by Samarco and the Military Fire Department, the Military Police and the State Civil Defense. In Barra Longa, the glucose levels and blood pressure of the residents were also measured and small animals received vaccines.
A week before the activities in Mariana and Barra Longa, Samarco carried out several prior actions involving public safety departments, company employees and the community to explain how the current dams are being managed and the scope of the emergency drill, confirming the importance of everyone’s participation in this exercise.
Barra Longa’s Civil Defense coordinator Leonardo de Carvalho Roldao took stock of the action. “It was a positive emergency drill. We always learn new lessons from every action, so it is important to practice every year. The presence of the children from the schools involved was one of the highlights and I really notice that the ‘Safe School’ project is adding value to our community. I’d also like to draw attention to the participation of the Community Center for Civil Defense Protection (Nupdec) in Gesteira, which led the organized drill in their community. We hope that next year the participation of the population is even greater,” he said.
This week’s action in the municipalities of Mariana and Barra Longa was the fifth emergency drill since November 2015. In all, about 1,050 people participated in the drill, including residents, organizers and members of public safety departments.
Samarco’s dams remain stable, as indicated by the monitoring and assessments of specialized consultancies. Reports on the conditions of these structures are periodically sent to the competent bodies. Currently, the system features about 840 pieces of state-of-the-art equipment, such as: robotic and weather station, millimeter precision radars, laser scanner, cameras, drones, piezometers, accelerometers, river stations, water quality stations, flow meters, as well as of a specialist technical team of about 50 people.
