The south of Brazil, plagued by massive flooding for more than a week, is also experiencing a flood of conspiracy theories. Nearly half a million inhabitants of the region are directly affected by this tragedy which has left hundreds dead and missing. On social networks, we are witnessing an avalanche of false information.
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First there are those which attribute the disaster At Brazil to an American research program which uses antennas in Alaska, the Haarpor those who accuse the white trails left by planes of releasing chemical substances capable of modifying the climate, tells our correspondent in Rio de Janeiro, Sarah Cozzolino.
Conspiracy theories that deny global warming. Because it is climate change which is at the origin of the increase in this type of natural disasters, according to scientists. And a study published on May 11 confirms it: it is indeed human emissions of greenhouse gases and their effects on the climate which caused the catastrophe.
Read alsoBrazil: the south of the country devastated by floods
Without global warming, the rains that fell on the Porto Alegre region would have been 15% less intense. “ With global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, each additional degree of warming results in +7% of the atmosphere’s capacity to hold precipitable water. In addition, we can also analyze the roles of certain natural phenomena of climate variability such as El Niñoand in these cases, we were able to exclude the role of El Niño », explains Davide Faranda, from the climate and environmental sciences laboratory and one of the authors of this study at the microphone of Simon Rozéfrom the RFI environment department.
The government would block the arrival of aid
There are also other types of false information that accuse the government of obstructing humanitarian aid on the ground. Influencer Pablo Marçal, followed by 8 million people on Instagram, for example, accused local authorities of blocking the entry of trucks carrying donations, under the pretext that they did not provide the corresponding invoices.
Finally, there is false information that is of particular concern to doctors. Such as encouraging people to take certain types of antibiotics, without a medical prescription, to “prevent” illnesses linked to contact with contaminated water.
Relayed on WhatsApp discussion groups, this conspiratorial content endangers government action in the region, but also confidence in scientific institutions.
Read alsoBrazil: faced with floods, concern for the hard-hit agricultural sector