One little survivor being rescued
Nearly a week after more than 700 people were killed in violent landslide and floods, hundreds of volunteer rescue workers such as Silva, a capoeira instructor from Teresópolis, are still trawling Rio's remote countryside for victims. They hope to locate stranded, starving families who have been cut off since the destruction of roads, bridges and thousands of homes.
Search and Rescue Dogs going through the rubbleThe local newspaper, O Diario de Teresópolis, has begun publishing daily, full-page lists of the deceased – with or without names. One entry read: "Dark-skinned female, 50; dark-skinned female six; white female, seven months." The rescuers, however, refuse to abandon hope. "My intention is always to come looking for lives," said Thiago Bessa, 26, a professional mountaineer who was wearing bright orange overalls to draw the attention of passing rescue helicopters. "If there are people up there they are stranded, hungry and thirsty. If we don't do this kind of work, they will be stranded for a long time."
Search and Rescue Dogs getting to remote areas to help.But many rescuers, while privately furious with the pace of government intervention, prefer action to recrimination. After nearly three hours hacking their way through dense rainforest and wading through a swamp, the group grew despondent. Reaching a murky river separating them from their target, they realized it was too wide to cross. Bessa lit a yellow-tipped cigarette.
Just as the deflated group prepared to retreat, however, spirits rose. "Look," Bessa shouted, motioning towards two white dots across the river, almost invisible through the undergrowth. "People!"
Manoel and Antonio, two brothers, with their wives and children, had been stranded since last Wednesday. Minutes later a Squirrel helicopter belonging to São Paulo's military police swept down and landed on a sand-bank.
Covered in mud and dirt searching for survivorshttp://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/20/5883991-rescue-workers-and-dogs-continue-to-search-for-brazilian-landslide-victims-