Civil Protection

At the direction of President @LulaOficial, I met with the mayors of Ribeirão Preto and the other cities in the region affected by yesterday's storm. The Federal Government, in coordination with the municipal governments, will recognize the state of emergency, provide humanitarian aid, and support the reconstruction of the affected areas, especially housing. Our commitment is to take care of the people and help the region overcome this difficult time.

On the morning of this Sunday, I coordinated an update meeting with @DefesaCivilRS and all the agencies that make up our monitoring system to track the evolution of meteorological conditions in Rio Grande do Sul. Fortunately, the rainfall amounts and the gales recorded so far were below what the initial forecasts indicated. There were isolated incidents, such as roofs being blown off, fallen trees and power outages, but without more serious impacts, and teams are already working to restore services. The situation, however, still requires attention. Between this Sunday and Tuesday, the cold front will continue advancing across the State, with forecasts of heavy rain and isolated storms, especially in the South, Fronteira Oeste, Central, Vales and, later, North regions. For this reason, we continue to monitor the situation in real time and keep structures and teams positioned in the areas with the greatest potential risk so they can act quickly whenever necessary. Today Rio Grande do Sul is much better prepared to face extreme events. We have strengthened the Defesa Civil, which today is four times larger than it was a few years ago, expanded our monitoring capacity, invested in technology, intelligence and diagnostics, and structured an increasingly preventive approach. This allows us to anticipate actions, mobilize resources quickly and better protect the population. I ask everyone to continue following the official communications from the Defesa Civil and to adopt the safety guidelines. Avoid unnecessary travel during periods of greatest instability and never put yourselves at risk in flooded areas or under dangerous conditions. This is not the time to spread alarmism and panic among the population. What we need is vigilance. Prevention and information remain the best ways to preserve lives.