A gestão dos riscos naturais à erosão e inundação nos planos diretores de municípios da zona costeira (estado do Pará)

Abstract

The Para’s Coastal Zone is characterized by the complexity of their physical and social support. Its location marks the existence of natural hazards - erosion and flooding, which combined with a lack of consistent public policies makes people vulnerable and compromises their life quality. However, if the problem of natural hazards are recognized and considered by municipal administrators, mainly on issues of land use, damage and loss of life and material can be avoided. Thus, those who depend on these areas for survival can have a sustainable way of life, without been exposed to unsanitary conditions. It is considered that the instrument responsible for the urban planning of the territorial organization at a municipal level is the Municipal Master Plan. This is legal according to the Article 182o of the Federal Constitution considers it as regards the basic tool to guide development policies in cities. Considering the functions of the Municipal Master Plan and the reality of the Coastal Zone the present study is concerned with this problem, because potential natural disasters are putting human lives at stake. Thus, the main objective of this study is to analyze how the Municipal Master Plan for coastal municipalities of Pará incorporates the theme of natural hazards of erosion and flooding, and how this is reflected in public policies associated with risk management. Specific objectives include the following: I - Identify and describe the natural hazards of erosion and flooding of coastal cities in the State of Pará, and II - Review the management of natural erosion and flooding in the sectors policies of territorial organization in the Municipal Master Plan for coastal municipalities of the State of Pará. To pursue our goals, this study was developed at the towns of Belém, Bragança and Salinópolis under the following methodology: the search of the theoretical and conceptual references; the research and review of basic municipal information (MUNIC) and the Civil Defense organ reports of disasters as well, and also the appliance of an array to analyse the risks present at the municipal master plans. Although the natural hazards are largely found at this field of study, we could find very little information at the MUNIC data source related to problems such as erosion and flooding phenomenas. Through the Civil Defense organ data base, between the years of 2007 and 2010, only four towns, all of them on the shore area, had reported disasters, which only the town of Bragança was taken in consideration on this present essay. On our reviews of the cities government master plans, we found statements in total opposition of what they were supposed to be, probably as a result of a very trivial aproach of these matters on previous studies. In our pont of view, the government Master Plan is an important diagnostic tool on illustrating the city’s diagnosis on these situations, as well it should establish the guidelines supporting the land use. Knowing the risks, by identifying the hazardous conditions in areas subject to erosion and flooding, is the only way to make possible to support the government action, which have been claiming to intervene in the Coastal Zone seeking the improvement of the environmental and social conditions lived by those who inhabit the place.