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Brazil's Homeless Scramble to Survive Rare Cold Snap
Posted
July 30, 2021
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1,856
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July 30, 2021
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1:38Now PlayingA fierce cold snap is bearing down on homeless people in Brazil, and authorities, activists and religious leaders are doing what they can to limit suffering on the streets.
Temperatures in some areas of southern Brazil dropped below freezing, and dozens of cities received snow and freezing rain.
That's especially worrisome this year after the pandemic exacerbated homelessness by punishing Brazil's job market, particularly since the federal government diminished welfare outlay that was a lifeline in 2020.
São Paulo, Brazil's biggest metropolis, on Friday recorded its lowest temperature in five years, 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius), according to the national meteorological institute.
Maria Madalena Dutra, 36, was among those shivering through the evening in São Paulo as she slept atop covers and beneath an improvised tarp.
The woman, whose day job as a maid dried up during the pandemic, said she found no vacancy at a shelter.
"Yesterday, it was so cold that we lit a lighter in our hands to warm up. We couldn't feel anything. Yesterday was painful," she said downtown on Thursday.
Low temperatures are expected to endure through the weekend, and start rising gradually thereafter, according to the meteorological institute.
High-altitude areas of Brazil's southern region could see temperatures plunge to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius).
Christian Braga, founder of the nonprofit Group of Social Attitude that provides food and blankets to the homeless in São Paulo, estimates there are twice as many people in the streets this year as a result of the pandemic.
He began collecting covers from friends in 2016, when four people died of cold.
"It seems paradoxical, people dying of cold in a tropical city of a tropical nation like Brazil." he said.
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