Volunteers express their solidarity by praying for victims of the heavy rains at a school used as a shelter in Nova Friburgo on Jan. 16. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Solidarity is soothing the pain of the victims of the heavy rains in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, as volunteers from all ages and social classes are doing whatever they can to assist victims of the disaster.

The army of volunteers has worked nonstop to help the families of the 759 who lost their lives, the 400 who have been declared missing, and the nearly 14,000 displaced.

Volunteer Cleiton Pimentel, a 39-year-old environmental technician and educator, has emerged as a national hero.

Pimentel’s efforts to rescue Marcus Vinícius, 11, amid bodies, wreckage and mud were recorded by a cell phone camera. The boy was dragged 2.5 miles by a current that was so powerful it removed part of his skin.

“That was for me the first impact of the tragedy, but I’ve already taken part in other touching situations like rescuing old people,” said Pimentel, who is a member of the NGO Padrão Águias da Aventura Objetiva, which is coordinating 200 volunteers working in Rio’s mountainous regions. “I’ve also participated in a team that watched a house [being destroyed] minutes after we took the family out of there.”

“We do whatever it takes,” said Ramon Porto, a 27-year-old environmental technician who is volunteering in a shelter in Nova Friburgo, one of the most affected municipalities. “We even thought we had too many volunteers, but when something happens we see that what we need is more people.”

Residents unload donations from a Brazilian Navy helicopter in Nova Friburgo, one of the municipalities most affected by the heavy rains and mudslides in the state of Rio de Janeiro. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

Porto, as he spoke with Infosurhoy.com, was moving people from one room in a shelter to another because water had seeped into the building.

“It’s impossible not to show solidarity with the victims of this enormous tragedy,” said journalist Gracie Croce, 38. “I’m making donations. I don’t stop sharing information about what the victims need through Facebook. Unfortunately, I couldn’t donate blood because I’ve recently undergone surgery, but I still hope to work as a volunteer.”

Throughout the state of Rio, the list of donation collection sites doesn’t stop growing, as public and private institutions, NGOs, supermarkets, shopping centers, universities and educational institutions, drugstores and nightclubs have all become drop-off points.

Mercatto, a chain of women’s clothing stores, has launched a campaign to collect donations among its employees and customers. One of Mercatto’s 38 stores was located in Teresópolis, a city severely affected by the disaster.

Luciana Andrade, from the company’s marketing department, said that two VW Kombis overloaded with clothes, shoes, food, toiletries and cleaning products already have been sent to the mountainous region.

“The company bought big bottles of water and provided social and psychological assistance and financial support for its employees and their families in Teresópolis,” Andrade said. “There weren’t problems in the store’s physical structure, but the employees faced material losses and deaths of relatives.”

Ramon Porto, 27, says more volunteers are needed as he works around the clock in a shelter for victims of the heavy rains and landslides in Nova Friburgo. (Renzo Gostoli/Austral Foto for Infosurhoy.com)

Viva Rio can also take cash donations sent from abroad

NGO Viva Rio, in addition to collecting and delivering donations, has established three bases for emergency assistance across the state’s mountainous region.

Viva Rio’s assistance sites have 14 volunteer health professionals, among them doctors, nurses, pharmacists and health community agents, in addition to 14 firemen from the Volunteer Fire Brigade Indaial Santa Catarina, which took part in the NGO’s activity in Haiti after the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010.

The NGO also opened a bank account to receive cash donations.

“We’ve already sent more than 600 tons of donations, and our account already has R$250,000 (US$149,700),” Viva Rio said in a statement. “Soon, we’ll start to announce how the money will be invested and how the rendering of accounts will be done.”

Rio’s Red Cross, which deployed several of its teams to help in the mountainous region as it continues to receive a strong flow of donations, also established collecting points throughout the country. It is in the process of posting on its website instructions on how those living in other countries can send donations, according to its press office.

The big wave of solidarity driving Brazilians worldwide also helps the animals.

One day after the heavy rains and mudslides killed at least 759 and caused 400 to go missing, piles of donations had been sent to Rio de Janeiro’s mountainous region. In a shelter in Teresópolis, one of the most affected cities, volunteers are seen here arranging donations on Jan. 13. (Bruno Domingos/Reuters)

“We’re collecting ration and medicines,” said systems analyst Gisley Domingues de Freitas, a member of an animal protection group that is encouraging the population via e-mails. “We rent a shed in the region where the rescued animals are being taken and treated. A veterinarian is coming from São Paulo to help.”

But some are trying to take advantage of the tragedy.

Two men and a 17-year-old were arrested on Jan. 17 in Campo Grande, in the Western region of Rio, for allegedly stealing donations.

One of the suspects, Gilson Silva do Nascimento, 48, a driver with the State University of Rio (UERJ), was in charge of driving the institution’s truck carrying donations, officials said.

How to help from abroad

Viva Rio

Banco do Brasil

New York Branch (600 5th Avenue 3rd floor, New York, NY 10020)

Bank Account 100065090

ABA 026003557

Swift Code BRASUS33

Banco do Brasil

To help victims in Teresópolis

Swift Code BRASBRRJRJO

Bank Account (campo 59 da MT103) 001074120001100009, on behalf of Prefeitura Municipal de Teresópolis

To help victims in Nova Friburgo

Swift Code BRASBRRJRJO

Bank Account (campo 59 da MT103): 001033520001200003, on behalf of Prefeitura Municipal de Nova Friburgo

To help victims in Petrópolis

Swift Code BRASBRRJRJO

Bank Account (campo 59 da MT103): 001008090000760005, on behalf of Petrópolis Prefeitura