Both the first and second readings this Sunday describe how God acts to bring the light of salvation and consolation to God’s people. Nowhere perhaps is that consolation needed more urgently this week than in Brazil, where more than 700 have died and hundreds more are missing after the worst landslides in decades.

The list of missing people released by the Rio de Janeiro state prosecutor’s office suggests the final death toll could be close to 1,000. “There are families that were so decimated that there is no one left to confirm who’s missing,” said Roberto Botto, a spokesman for the Civil Defense agency in Nova Friburgo, where at least 345 people died.

The death toll has been rising daily as rescuers reach isolated areas and dig out more bodies from the wreckage of neighborhoods that were virtually wiped out by the landslides and floods following torrential rain in southeast Brazil.

Army helicopters have been running missions to remote areas to pick up survivors and help them dig up bodies from their ruined houses. Hundreds of people are believed to be in areas still at risk of fresh mudslides.

The floods and mudslides hit with such force that the geography of the region has been altered significantly, officials said. “Streams turned into wide, deep rivers. There is a huge geographical change; it’s as if towns were completely re-founded,” said Icaro Moreno, president of EMOP, a government public works firm.

Source: An article by Rodrigo Viga Gair and Stuart Grudgings for Reuters