Petrópolis: A perfect storm of weather extremes and deep inequality

More than 100 people have died in landslides in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis

When the rainstorm hit Petrópolis last week, 41-year-old Carine Santiago was nervous. Brazil is a country used to tropical downpours and people here take rainy season in their stride. But even by Brazilian standards, it was intense.

The town saw a month's worth of rain - 240 mm (9.4 in)- in just two hours.

"The rain came down so hard," Carine says. She was trapped at work, while her daughter was at home. "I had no idea that where I lived it was even worse."

At home, 13-year-old Mariana had a narrow escape.

"I looked up and my house started shaking," she says. "I ran up to my neighbour and you could see the entire mudslide from there, it was like a waterfall."

Their house was destroyed as the mudslide came crashing down the hillside.

In all, the rain caused 26 landslides and killed 176 people. More than 100 are still missing.

Risky living

Carine and Mariana's home was in the neighbourhood of Morro da Oficina, built on a steep slope in the south of Petrópolis. It was one of the worst-hit areas.

Carine says that despite the danger, she cannot afford to live anywhere else

History has repeated itself for Carine. Twenty-six years ago, her mother was killed in a mudslide.

"When I see that red earth, I feel sick," she says. "But I have to stay strong for my children, I can't collapse."

Why then, if she had experienced such tragedy, did she continue to live in a place known to be risky?

"We can't afford to live anywhere else," she says, adding that after her mother died, the family never again lived high up. Instead, they chose to build a home at a lower level, assuming that would be safer.

"Nobody ever imagined it would be so dangerous," she says.

Her daughter Mariana made a narrow escape when the mudslide hit

The day after the mudslides, Rio de Janeiro's governor Claudio Castro visited Petrópolis.

These were the worst rains to have hit the city since 1932, he said, blaming previous administrations for not doing enough to prevent the mudslides.

"May it serve as a lesson so that this time we are different," he said.

We asked Rio's state government to respond to accusations that residents in risky areas feel they have little choice in where they can afford to live.

They sent a statement explaining that even before last week's events, there was a shortage of housing relating back to 2011 when more than 900 people died in the mountain region after landslides and housing was promised to affected families then.

"The building of those houses depends on the freeing up of land by Petrópolis municipality," the state government said. It added that the governor had plans to build 50,000 new units across the state - the biggest project in recent decades.

Petty politics

Professor Antonio Guerra, from the department of geography of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, does not have much time for a political blame game.

He has been studying landslides in Petrópolis since 1992 and says authorities know where the risky areas are. He has handed over landslide risk maps to them, based on his research, but nothing is ever done.

Search and rescue teams are still continuing in Petrópolis

'The authorities are much more concerned about being re-elected than doing something for the people," he says. "There is money but it's not been spent on improving the lives of residents."

According to Prof Guerra, as many as 20,000 people in Petrópolis live in areas at risk.

Last week, he took measurements of the incline of some of the neighbourhoods and was shocked by his findings. Some houses were built on 55-60 degree inclines.

"When you build at more than 20 degrees you have to be very careful," he said. "And over 45 degrees is illegal in Brazil."

But the solution is not easy, he admits.

"What the local authorities should do is pull down the house and build it in another place. But that means you lose votes in the next elections," he says. "Of course, once people start building, you can stop them, but they don't - authorities turn a blind eye."

The structural inequalities of Brazil mean that for the vast majority of Brazilians, there are no "safe" options.

"The concentration of income and wealth here is outrageous," says Prof Raquel Rolnik, from the faculty of architecture and urban planning at the University of São Paulo.

"For the majority of people, the money they make is never sufficient to buy or rent a proper house," she says.

In these circumstances there are two options, either public policy to help redistribute income or public policies to provide decent housing, she adds.

"We don't have those," she says. "The way urban policy works here is to let the people build their homes by themselves, with their means - which means no means so the result is those tragedies."

Prof Rolnik does not think anything will change, despite Governor Castro making promises.

"This is just talk," she says. "Money was available to the municipalities and the state to invest in planning vulnerable areas. It's not a question of money at all."

With that, everyone agrees that when more intense rain comes, another tragedy is inevitable.

"I don't believe in the authorities," Carine Santiago says, emphatically. "I believe in the power of the people."

But in the face of such a tragedy, it'll take time for residents of Petrópolis to feel empowered enough to change their future.