It’s been a year since a Samarco mining dam collapsed and spilled 10 billion gallons of mining waste-filled mud into Brazil’s Doce River. Now, hundreds of thousands of affected locals are still waiting for Samarco to clean up its mess.

In the immediate aftermath of the dam collapse, 250,000 people were left without drinking water. Now, fish are riddled with wart-like bumps making them impossible to sell or eat. 

Samarco’s disaster has left the local economy reeling. Locals rely on scarce well water for drinking and cooking. Samarco is still to be held accountable for this mess and it is counting on us forgetting about its recklessness. Let's prove Samarco wrong.

Tell Samarco to pay full reparations to locals impacted by its pollution of the Doce River.

Erosion from the river bank continues to leach mining waste into the river, adding to local concerns about its safety. “I have no hope I will fish here again,” said fisherman Diomar Lorders, who for decades relied on the river to support himself and his family. “I would not eat it and I don’t have the courage to sell it to the people.”

Samarco has been paying a $400 monthly compensation to affected fisherman. But that’s only a fraction of the money locals made before the river was contaminated. Samarco needs to step up and do right by the people most impacted by the disaster it caused.

This isn’t the first time we’ve stood up to mining companies that put profits over people. We helped put pressure on the World Bank to stop OceanaGold's lawsuit against El Salvador for banning a mine that would deplete its last source of safe, drinkable water. 150,000 of us joined Máxima Acuña Chaupe in her successful court case against mining giant Newmont, which wanted to destroy her home to build a mine. Now, we need to join the countless Brazilians living along the Doce River who have been devastated by Samarco.

Tell Samarco it needs to pay full reparations to compensate fishermen and all locals whose livelihoods have been lost due to Samarco's dam collapse.

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