Dear friends and colleagues from the Graduate Institute,

My name is Henrique Gasperin, and I am a second-year PhD student at the International History and Politics department. I write to inform you about the climate emergency now hitting my hometown, Porto Alegre, and its surroundings in Southern Brazil. In the face of a dreadful humanitarian urgency affecting hundreds of thousands of people, I kindly ask for your help.

Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state, is facing at this exact moment the worst environmental catastrophe ever recorded. Since the beginning of last week, unprecedented rainfall, coupled with poor disaster management policies, have led to massive floodings, affecting more than 400 cities, and over 2 million people. Right now, more than 500,000 men, women and children had to leave their homes in the condition of climate refugees, many of them housed in improvised shelters that lack regular supplies of food, water, hygiene, and medicines. Whole cities were evacuated, hospitals are working beyond capacity, and thousands of people are still in need to be rescued from flooded areas. Forecasts indicate that the crisis situation may last for several more weeks, as heavy rainstorms are expected this weekend. When water is back to its regular level, cities and people will have to rebuild over the tragic remains now hidden by the flood.

What is now affecting Rio Grande do Sul is part of a major planetary trend of ever more frequent climate-related disasters. People and territories of the Global South, which have minimally contributed to human-induced climate change, are disproportionately more prone to be punished by and often take much longer to recover from these events.

These reports/images can give a dimension of the catastrophe:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/world/americas/brazil-flooding-photos.html

https://www.reuters.com/pictures/stunning-images-show-extent-flooding-southern-brazil-2024-05-07/RU2WAPF3MJIUJCB73RCOC7OOME/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C6pUiwyRM0o/?igsh=Y282MHpvcWU2a250
https://www.instagram.com/p/C6lrG7ALvDX/

https://www.instagram.com/reels/C6gzK7WO1Bt/

On the ground, thousands of individual volunteers – many of them my personal friends, and familiars –, as well as associations whose record of social commitment is undeniable, are working ceaselessly to help those in need in many ways. Your contribution is of uttermost importance to keep this urgent engine of solidarity and recovery going on, and help people that have lost pretty much everything to reconstruct their lives with dignity.

Here is a list of trustful organizations that are working on the ground in different cities affected by the floods:

Although some of them do accept Paypal, most grassroots organizations do not have appropriate means to receive donations in foreign currencies. For international contributions to reach these people, I am accepting donations on CHF, which will be converted to BRL and sent directly to people and associations working in the field. I commit myself to deliver transparency reports on my personal instagram. You can either twint me on my number (+41779259183), or send a transaction through this account:

Titulaire: Henrique Brenner Gasperin

Banque: UBS

IBAN: CH33 0021 5215 1638 6740 U

SWIFT/BIC: UBSWCHZH80A

Thank you very much for your solidarity. Respectfully,

Henrique Gasperin