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Business Matters: Live from Brazil: Samarco Dam Disaster

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Live from Brazil: Samarco Dam Disaster

03/06/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - Business Matters, Live from Brazil: Samarco Dam Disaster

We visit Minas Gerais, to see how communities are recovering six months on.

We visit Minas Gerais, to see how communities are recovering six months after the Samarco Dam Disaster, one of Brazil's worst mining accidents.

Presenter Jon Bithrey travels to Rio De Jeneiro in Brazil for Business Matters.

The programme starts from the state of Minas Gerais, a major centre for mining in Brazil. Last November came a horrific reminder of how dangerous mining can be for local communities when a dam holding back waste from a huge iron ore mine run by a company called Samarco collapsed, releasing billions of gallons of sludge onto the countryside below. 19 people were killed in and around the village of Bento Rodrigues, the first settlement to be hit by the wave of sludge. The next settlement to feel the full force of the mud was Paracatu, about 60 kilometres further south-east. Luckily no-one there died - but much else was lost as Jon discovers.

The city of Rio de Janeiro forms the majority of the population of the Brazilian state of Rio De Janeiro. The finances of the state are in pretty bad shape. One of the major factors has been the fall in the price of oil, a big revenue raiser here, plus problems at the state oil firm Petrobras.  That's had a knock on effect on investment in public services here, prompting students and teachers to go on strike at about 70 public schools and colleges across the state complaining of dilapidated equipment, large class sizes, a lack of variety in the curriculum and bad treatment of other non-cleaning staff.  Jon goes on a tour of a specialist drama college in the centre of Rio called Martins Penna - led by 22 year old  Fernanda Lyra.

Here's a fact that may surprise. More than two thirds of Brazil's electricity comes from hydroelectric power, generated by huge dams from the mighty rivers and other waterways in Brazil. Recently severe droughts in parts of Brazil have reduced the flow of water through the dams, cutting the amount of electricity generated and forcing power firms to look for alternatives - like burning fossil fuels.  That's pushed up power prices - here in Rio by as much as 70%. That's hurting many - particularly the city's poorest - and now the hunt is on for alternatives.

How easy is it to build a tech firm in Rio?  Well that's what one small team here has done at a firm called Nearbytes - and now they're putting their faith in a new sort of wireless technology to help them grow even more.

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