Flood damages in southern Brazil are being assessed by ECLAC

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), is conducting an evaluation of the damages and losses caused by the historic floods in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

This assessment was requested by both the Federal Government of Brazil and the state government of Rio Grande do Sul to determine the monetary costs of the floods that occurred in May 2024. To achieve this, the assessment team is utilizing the Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) methodology, developed by ECLAC. This methodology has been applied in over a hundred disaster assessments across 28 countries and is detailed in an ECLAC manual. DaLA quantifies, in monetary terms, the losses, damages, and additional costs resulting from a disaster across various sectors including culture, education, health, and housing; infrastructure such as transportation, electricity, water, and sanitation; and production sectors like agriculture, commerce, livestock farming, manufacturing, and tourism, while incorporating cross-cutting issues like gender and environmental concerns. Based on these effects, the impact on the Rio Grande do Sul economy can be estimated.

The multidisciplinary technical team from ECLAC, IDB, and WB was in Rio Grande do Sul during the second half of June, participating in various activities that included field visits to the affected areas, meetings with authorities from different government levels, public service concessionaires, and business and industrial entities. These activities facilitated the collection and compilation of relevant information and data needed for a precise estimation of the damages, losses, and additional costs, as well as the verification of on-the-ground conditions that will guide the recommendations in the final report.

                                                Damaged goods accumulated on the streets of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

The profile of losses and damages from a flood typically shows that the housing sector is the most affected within the social sector (Bello et al., 2014). This is expected to be the case for this disaster, given that a significant portion of the city of Porto Alegre was affected, resulting in the partial destruction of settlements along the banks of the Taquari River due to flooding.

The final report of the evaluation, anticipated to be delivered by the end of July, will be a crucial component of the reconstruction plan and the establishment of risk reduction measures for future extreme events. Additionally, the monetary estimates will support financing requests to international organizations and contribute to greater transparency for the public regarding the impact and costs associated with extreme climate events.

                                                                Devastated neighborhood in Muçum, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil