© AFP/Evaristo SA
Remains of donkeys and cows during the region's worst drought in a century.
Remains of donkeys and cows during the region's worst drought in a century.
Farmer Kerginaldo Pereira, 30, walks through the dust and cactuses in dismay. There are in all about 30 skeletons of cattle, donkeys and other farm animals in a sort of open-air cemetery set aside in his settlement of Nova Canaa, in Ceara state, to avoid spread of disease. "Most are animals that died of thirst or hunger. Sadly, that's the reality. So many animals have died in these five years of drought," Pereira told AFP.
The semiarid northeast of Brazil, known as the Sertao, is use to rain shortages but no one can remember a drought like this. There has been almost no rain since 2012 and the leafless, desiccated landscape has the appearance of having been in a vast fire. Rivers and reservoirs that used to serve rural populations are not coping. The authorities estimate that reserves are at six percent capacity, with some completely emptied.
Experts say that a cocktail of factors has produced the disaster: a strong El Nino in the Pacific, heating of the north Atlantic and climate change that has seen temperatures in Ceara rise by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) in 50 years.
Comment: Japan has also been overwhelmed by radioactive wild boars since the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Radiation levels at the reactor are now at the highest levels since the March 2011 earthquake, presaging a disaster of unimaginable consequences that is being consistently ignored by the mainstream media.