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When the rains came in at the beginning of April some 5,400 square miles of rain forest had been destroyed. The Brazilian government had for two months denied that the fires were of a serious nature and had on numerous occasions declined help offered by the United Nations and other agencies both national and non-governmental to put out the fires.
By February 2,000 separate blazes were speeding west through the savanna towards Roraima. Fuelled by winds the fire traveled as much as 30 miles a day. The fires had already grown too powerful for the 1,700 firefighters who bravely tackled the blazes. It was as if the life-giving oxygen-producing rain forest had become the world's largest chimney. |
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This farmer (above) received a fine for burning his land to clear for cattle even as the major fires in the jungle were still being brought under control.
Yanomami Indians (left) carry empty bottles back from a five day walk into the town of Iracema in search of food. Fires had burnt the food stores in their Maloca and the hunting grounds were left deserted as the animals fled. |
