usually a recurring catastrophe and according to Van Wassenhove (2006) it can be classified into four types:
(i) natural sudden-onset: such as earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes; (ii) natural slow-onset, like famine,
drought and poverty: (iii) the result of man-made sudden-onset, such as terrorist attack, Coup d’Etat and
Chemical leak; (iv) and the result man-made slow-onset, as the political crises and refugee crisis. One of the
distinctions between disaster and environmental disasters is that in case of disaster there are fatal victims.
Worldwide there is a discussion among government, associations, universities, private / public
companies, as well as organized society regarding aspects ranging from prevention to practice procedures in
the occurrence of an environmental disaster. In Brazil, it has been a false impression about the lack of
environmental disasters mainly because the country does not suffer from earthquakes, eruptions, hurricanes,
tsunamis and others. However, Brazil faces serious environmental issues, such as excess rain and drought,
which sometimes turn into disasters. As reported by the United Nations (UN, 2011) between 2000 and 2010
the country was affected by 60 environmental disasters. Among them, six droughts that hit 2 million people,
37 floods that left 4.5 million casualties, including 1,200 dead and another five landslides that killed 162
people and affected 149 others .