Flooding and landslides in Rio

Image of Rocinha by Marie Hart

Dramatic pictures and devastation in Rio de Janeiro following heavy rains.

Geographers will appreciate the risk that weather like this brings to those people whose homes are built in marginal locations: steep slopes, land which was not suitable for other developments and land on river floodplains.

The BBC have been following the dramatic story, and this would also make a useful context for using Google Earth in the classroom to navigate to some of the locations featured in the articles and explore the slopes and the relationships between the buildings and the terrain.

UPDATE: The government is beginning to remove settlements which are built in dangerous locations and thousands of dwellers are facing forced evictions.