Porto Alegre, the capital of the Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, the southernmost Brazilian state, has been suffering from intense rains since late April 2024. These rains generated flooding 5.35 meters above the riverbed on the Guaķba River waterfront. Even though the Guaķba is known as a river, it is technically a lake and an estuary with a 72-km coastline, receiving the waters from the four biggest rivers in the RS state. This flood reaches 46 neighbourhoods (out of 96), directly impacting around 157 thousand people (14% of residents) and 39 thousand buildings in the city. About three weeks after the start of the floods, around 28 thousand people are living outside their houses, and 14 thousand are living in shelters set up in the city. At least three neighbourhoods were completely destroyed. The city stayed isolated for several days due to falling points, highway ruptures, or serious cracks in streets or roads, and this situation caused risks of shortages of potable water, food, medications, oxygen for hospitals, and even the possibility of receiving aid to help victims from other cities by land. On average, 60% of residents had water shortage for six to 10 days, including the city’s three largest hospitals, which stopped offering 1,300 hospital beds for a few days until they were supplied by water trucks. Amidst all this, it is possible to observe difficulties in articulating communities to understand and act in the face of it. Thousands of people had to be rescued by helicopters or boats because they did not heed civil defence warnings to leave their homes before the flood.
A preliminary analysis of citizens’ reasons for not leaving their houses in time to avoid risky rescues brings the following:
a) fear of robberies in their homes;
b) unwarranted hopes that nothing bad is about to happen based on a very religious population;
c) difficulties in interpreting simple data and facts;
d) and the absence of smart community mechanisms.
In this proposal, we intend to address the last two aspects. This proposal aims to collaboratively develop a toolkit for developing and consolidating smart communities in the context of smart, sustainable, and resilient cities, enhancing communities’ resilience to natural disasters and crises.
