A potencialidade da comunicação de riscos para o contexto das dolinas do município de Vazante, Minas Gerais, Brasil

Abstract

When we analyze the last decades, we can see that the risks and dangers posed to people have taken large proportions and, consequently, culminated in a constant process of vulnerability, sometimes of social and/ or economic character. Risks that originate from industry, uncontrolled actions of deforestation, civil construction in areas of slopes or riverbanks always devoid of urban planning, mineral exploration processes that require the construction of large tailings dams and, even as a result of climate change. Living at risk has become a condition in people’s lives and is increasingly beyond our ability to choose. In the municipality of Vazante, Minas Gerais, the risks that have pervaded time and put lives in constant danger is the appearance of sinkholes. These refer to subsidence that occurs in the soil without previous signs. The event is always accompanied by the surprise effect, since it is too complicated to predict which place will be affected. Sinkholes are a characteristic feature of the Vazante’s Karst System (VKS) and are directly linked to the underground environment. The major concern is the fact that in the affected area there are two neighborhoods, Sebastiana Alves II and Vazante Sul. The first is coming from the Government Project "Minha casa minha vida" and the residential was built at the same time that the area was classified as high risk of the appearance of sinkholes, this all makes the situation even more alarming. This context is the central of this study, because when a resident becomes affected, his whole life undergoes drastic changes and his place of residence loses the ability to offer him security. Consequently, we aim to understand how residents feel about this risk and how the communication of this risks and its benefits reach the neighborhoods. Linked to this, it was necessary to understand what are the possible constraints that act so that the appearance of sinkholes in the city is happening in an accelerated way. As a methodological path, we opted for bibliographic research and documentary research with reference to the work of Santos (2020). Understanding the process of sinkholes together with the narratives of the residents about their daily lives allowed us to see that many are those who fear for their life and the loss of their house before the possibility of the appearance of sinkholes, all of this in a context somewhat devoid of the risks communication.