Mortalidade por desastres no Brasil: O que mostram os dados

Abstract

This work presents and analyzes the main databases on mortality due to disasters in Brazil: EM-DAT Emergency Events Database and the Brazilian Atlas of Natural Disasters, as well as the Mortality Information System (SIM, Ministry of Health) and the Yearbook of Natural Disasters (Ministry of National Integration). These databases were addressed using two basic methodological procedures: descriptive analysis of systematic information and comparative analysis, by means of the construction of tables that helped to analyze the information selected. The comparison revealed that with the current databases it is not possible to affirm if disasters and mortality due to disasters are increasing in Brazil, since there are variations in the intensity of the events that occur each year. The information available shows the importance of the mega disaster that occurred in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro in 2011, especially in the municipality of Nova Friburgo. In this case the disaster affected the various age groups in both sexes in different ways: the 5 to 9-year-old age group was the most affected among men and women, as well as the 20 to 24-year-old age group (for women) and the 30 to 34-year-old age group (for men).