President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters on Thursday (6) that it is “necessary to erase all the bureaucracy” to speed up aid to the Rio Grande do Sul, which has been facing flooding and heavy rains since last month. The statements were made during a visit to the Passo de Estrela neighborhood, in the city of Cruzeiro do Sul (RS).
“Here it has to be, it has to be erased through all the bureaucracy. We have a way of doing that, now to do it always takes a while. To destroy, it’s fast. To rebuild, it’s very difficult… So we are very willing to work together with the state government and with the mayors to recover your home, to give you a chance to live with dignity. We’re going to do it and we guarantee we’re going to do it,” Lula said.
Lula reiterated the federal government’s commitment to providing immediate responses to reconstruction efforts during his visit. He stressed the need to consider the tragedy as an exceptional case.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who complains more about bureaucracy than I do. It’s all very difficult, very complicated. So I held a meeting this week to appeal to the superintendent of Caixa here in Rio Grande do Sul to let him know that this is an exceptional case,” said Lula.
“We need to quickly give the answer that the people need. What is our drama? We need to rebuild very responsibly. We can’t build schools and houses in places with floods,” he added.
He stressed that the federal government is willing to help in any way possible, but said that “you can’t do it in a week” and that “you won’t leave it in a shack.”
This is the president’s fourth agenda to the state since the disaster began. The appointments include a visit to the neighborhood of Navegantes, in Arroio do Meio, both heavily affected by the floods.
According to data released by the Civil Defense at 9 am on Tuesday (4), 172 people lost their lives due to the tragedy, while another 44 are still missing. The number of homeless is 35,103, with 575,171 displaced. A total of 476 municipalities and 2,392,686 people were affected by the rains and floods.
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