TERESOPOLIS, Brazil — Pointing at the cliff of crumbling red clay, Renato Motta de Lima described a landscape that now existed only in memory: here, his grandmother’s house; there, the church; below, a banana grove and the home of an aunt, uncle and the shy teenager who was his cousin.
They and scores of neighbors from Cascata do Imbui lay buried underneath mud and debris at the bottom of the once-lush hillside, victims of massive mudslides that killed at least 610 people last week.
Officials fear the death toll could climb once they can fully access remote villages like this one.
No help — food, water, medication — had reached the survivors here by Saturday other than what little residents in flip-flops could haul in by foot from the center of Teresopolis, slung over their shoulders in supermarket bags. Two avalanches wiped out the road leading to the neighborhood, leaving in places only a cracked ribbon of asphalt perched over an abyss.
“This was a beautiful place. It was a happy place,” Motta de Lima said.
As with many survivors, the enormity of the loss has not sunk in yet — and there hasn’t been time to dwell on it. If he stops to think, he is not helping the rescue effort. And he has to help.
Four days after the disaster, official help is scarce, and residents are scrambling to take care of themselves — lugging water bottles, bags of groceries and blankets along miles of clay-covered rocks, rusting metal and trash.
The incessant rain makes everything slick, and stronger thunderstorms are expected today. The smell of rot hangs heavy in the air.
About 30 national defense, fire department and civil defense personnel were working Saturday on the hillside where the neighborhood of Campo Grande once stood. Police lingered at the bottom of the wash as soaked, muddy residents trudged by with provisions.
“Our function here today is to avoid looting,” said Sgt. Luciano Comin. Local and state fire departments said they had deployed 2,500 rescuers, while 225 federal police were in the area to maintain order.
“Where is the government? What are they doing? This is shameful,” said Adriana Aguiar Pereira, 34, said as she carried milk, candles and diapers to supply herself, her mother and her 1-year-old.
