The Ongoing Danger of Large-Scale Mining on the Rio Doce: An Account of Brazil’s Largest Biocultural Disaster

Abstract

Bento Rodrigues was a community with a deep sense of belonging. On November 5, 2015, its people had to watch their houses, stories, and ways of life destroyed in a matter of minutes after the fatal rupture of the Samarco/Vale/BHP tailings dam. Almost a year later, September 24, 2016, people said a last good-bye to the place during the feast of Our Lady of Mercy among its ruins. Bento Rodrigues would be covered by water after the construction of the S4 dike, to block the tailings still coming down from the Fundao dam.