Brazil flood survivors left to fend for themselves

TERESOPOLIS, Brazil — They are tired, hungry, traumatized — and resigned to saving themselves without the aid their government promised after massive mudslides that killed nearly 600 people.

Wanderson Ferreira de Carvalho lost 23 family members — including his wife and 2-year-old son — in massive mudslides, yet spent Saturday hauling water and food up steep jungle trails. Emotionally numb, physically exhausted, he knew nobody else was going to help save friends in his remote neighborhood, isolated after a road was washed out.

"We have to help those who are alive," he said as he hauled supplies five miles up the dangerous trail. "There is no more help for those who are dead. I've cried a lot and sometimes my mind goes blank and I almost forget what happened. But we have to do what we must to help the living."

Hundreds of survivors are in the same situation as Carvalho, forced to save themselves after torrential rains earlier this week triggered rumbling mudslides early Wednesday in mountain towns north of Rio de Janeiro. The death toll had risen to 598 by Saturday, and there were fears it would climb sharply higher once remote areas were reached.

Carvalho seemed to find solace in working feverishly to help his friends. After he got word that his father's body was found badly decomposed, he also decided that he didn't want rescuers to try and find his son and wife.

"I would rather not see him now," Carvalho said of his son. "Whoever is buried, it's better to leave them in peace."
While Carvalho and others are angry at the lack of government help, they also seem oddly resigned, as if having to save themselves after Brazil's worst natural disaster in four decades were not unusual.


[link to www.msnbc.msn.com]
Poor People...

How it's going to go from here on out....
WE CAN'T HEAR YOU CALLING FOR HELP..