SANITARY, SOCIAL, AND METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS AND NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE NORTHEASTERN REGION OF BRAZIL

Abstract

This study aims to characterize the occurrence of natural disasters in the mesoregions situated in Brazil’s Northeastern region from sociosanitary and meteorological aspects during the period from 1991 to 2013. The grade-of-membership (GoM) method, based on fuzzy sets theory, was applied in order to define a typology of groups with distinct features. In order to identify differences among medians of climatic, socio-sanitary and disaster variables, Kruskall Wallis and Nemenyi tests were applied. To illustrate spatio-temporal patterns, thematic maps were made through QGIS software. Typology showed three extreme profiles: predominant 1, characterized by mesoregions with moderate occurrence of drought and flood, favorable conditions for rainfall surplus, best sanitary conditions and more urbanization, standing out in the coastal region of the Northeast; predominant 2 which has high drought and flood records, favorable conditions for rainfall deficit, intermediary sanitary conditions and moderate urbanization, found predominantly in mesoregions located in Brazilian Semiarid area; and predominant profile 3 which shows high flood records, favorable conditions to rainfall surplus, but low sanitary conditions and less urbanization, located fairly close of Maranhão state and the southern part Bahia state.

Keywords:
Natural disasters; mesoregions; GoM; Brazilian Northeast