10 years old, disaster prevention law remains incomplete – 02/22/2023 – Panel

Ten years after its creation, law 12,608, which implemented the National Civil Defense System, is incomplete, according to people who participated in its elaboration.

Appearing in the wake of disasters in the mountainous region of Rio that left more than 900 dead in 2011, the legislation still needs to be implemented in several points.

A decree partially detailing its functioning was only issued in October last year, at the end of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

Rapporteur for the law in 2012, Deputy Glauber Braga (PSOL-RJ) says that, for example, there is still a policy to help poorer municipalities to prepare technical studies that substantiate the need for disaster prevention works. The so-called geotechnical charts are expensive, and without them it is not possible to have access to federal resources.

In addition, he says, it is necessary to ensure that the National Civil Defense Secretariat, created by law, has the structure to analyze risk areas and disaster prevention projects throughout the national territory. “If the structure is empty, as historically happens, it is a significant collection point”.

There is also a need to regulate the way in which resources will be transferred for the reconstruction of houses and the accountability model by federated entities that receive funds, among other points. “There are many aspects that still need to be defined for the law to be in full force”, says Braga, who intends to summon authorities involved in the area for hearings in the Chamber on the subject.

Former president of Cemaden (National Center for Monitoring and Alerting of Natural Disasters), geologist Agostinho Ogura says that the law is “lame”.

“There is no problem mapping risk areas today in Brazil, but rather how to transmit this information so that preventive measures are taken”, says he, who participated in the creation of the body, linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology, in 2011 , also a reflection of the tragedy in Rio.

Braga and Ogura say, however, that the 2012 law is positive, although incomplete. “The focus has changed from rescuing victims of tragedies to prevention”, says the geologist.

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