Conditions of Rochina Favela in Rio

Question 1

Explain poor housing

Answer 1

Houses can be made of brick but many are made of scrap materials like corrugated iron.

Question 2

Explain overcrowding

Answer 2

Houses can contain 6-10 people. When people live in such close quarters it is cramped, uncomfortable and can lead to disease spreading rapidly.

Question 3

Explain how houses may have a lack of clean water

Answer 3

Houses may have a water supply but is likely to only work for 2 hours per day or be polluted by sewage.

Question 4

Explain how houses may have a lack of electricity

Answer 4

Many houses don’t have legal electricity. Some have illegally ‘bootlegged’ electricity from passing cables creating a fire risk.

Question 5

Explain landslides

Answer 5

Houses are built on the poorest quality land – steep slopes. This means the poorly constructed houses can be destroyed by landslides. E.g. the 1998 Rio landslides killed 27 and left 13,000 homeless.

Question 6

Explain sewage

Answer 6

Houses have poor or non-existent sewage systems meaning that disease can spread easily (cholera and typhoid).

Question 7

Explain the lack of services

Answer 7

As these houses are often illegally built they do not have services such as refuse collection leading to dirty streets, adding to the vermin problem and further contributing to the spread of disease.