Vulnerabilit y of People in Epidemics and Catastrophes and the 1988 Constitution

Abstract

The 1988 Brazilian Federal Constitution deals with measures that should be taken in abnormal situations, with special reference to Art 136 on social instability produced by threats against the public order, individual and collective rights and environmental conditions. Critical Epidemiology concerns with the psychosomatic aspects of the aging of the population and its relationship with liabilities from natural catastrophes and collective disasters. The government is highly uncommitted in terms of policy and commitment to the needs of the population affected by natural and human accidents. New strategies are required for the recovery of the areas and the attendance to people suffering from the effects of catastrophes. Law 12.608, published on the 10th April 2012, imposed on the Federal, State and Municipal governments the duty to adopt the necessary measures to decrease risk to the population through the collaboration with public and private organizations and society in general. The tutelage of fundamental rights of vulnerable people in abnormal situations is guaranteed.