Indemnities

The indemnity values for each damage and the criteria adopted throughout the program were previously discussed and presented to the public authorities (public defender’s office, state secretariats, among others), technical reference entities (Embrapa, Incaper, Emater, Sinduscon, among others) and validated through direct dialogue with the impacted communities from Barra Longa to Regência, at the Doce River estuary.

By the end of September 2020, the Renova Foundation had paid R$ 2.65 billion in indemnities and financial aid. A total of 10,257 indemnity payments were made for general damages for the overall amount of R$ 905.5 million.

Whereas the emergency financial aid program reached a total of 33 thousand people, 18,133 of whom were dependents, through 14,754 primary beneficiaries. Each of them received a monthly sum corresponding to the current minimum wage, plus 20% per dependent. The amount equivalent to a DIEESE basic-needs grocery package, which may vary depending on the month and state. The amount paid in Emergency Financial Aid (AFE) amounted to approximately R$ 1.43 billion in September 2020.

The Mediated Indemnity Program – Water Damage (PIM-DA) was destined for all people living in towns and districts deprived of their water supply or distribution for more than 24 consecutive hours due to the Fundao dam collapse in November 2015. As many as 270 thousand people received indemnities through the program in the states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, accounting for 99.9% of those affected. A total of R$ 282.1 million was paid.

The indemnities that have already had formalized agreements between the Renova Foundation and the affected parties are the cases in which a minimum of proof of causality and eligibility was made, now remaining the cases in which the person who declares himself affected cannot prove the alleged damage and the Renova Foundation, consequently, is unable to process.

Yes. Those interested may refrain from participating in the program at any time, free of charge. If after refraining the interested part wishes to return to the program, he/she can only enter again by scheduling a new appointment, returning to the beginning of the process.

The indemnity of all those affected is a central task in the reparation process. To create a quick alternative to the judicialization process, the proposal of the Mediated Indemnity Program (PIM), a free voluntary membership program, was collectively built.

The PIM acts with people who have lost their income or material property, which is called General damage. The Water Damage, aimed at those who lived in the cities and districts that had the water supply interrupted for more than 24 hours, has already been finalized.

It was necessary to draw up guidelines and policies aimed at repairing those who were entitled to financial compensation taking into account the diversity of damages, the high rate of informality, and the particularities of each process. Fair compensation presupposes knowing the extent of the damage and impact for each individual.

This indemnity program is the first of its scale in the world. For how unprecedented and complex the quantity and diversity of people and types of damages have been, for its territorial extent and, especially, for its highly informal circumstances, most of the damage cannot be proved with documentation.

Despite these highly informal circumstances, the Renova Foundation disbursed, until September 2020, more than R$ 2.65 billion in indemnities and financial aid. The emergency financial aid program currently assists 14,754 primary beneficiaries, serving more than 33 thousand affected people. These families receive a monthly sum corresponding to a current minimum wage, plus 20% per dependent, in addition to the amount equivalent to a DIEESE basic-needs grocery package, which may vary depending on the month and state.

The current Discharge Term specifies the impact negotiated between the affected party and the Renova Foundation in the indemnity agreement, which allows them to claim other damages that may in the future be proven to be a consequence of the collapse of the Fundão dam.

The indemnification process for people affected in Mariana differed from other impacted regions in many aspects, including the filing of a Public Civil Action by the Prosecution Service and the affected parties deciding, for example, that the Caritas Technical Advisory should be in charge of the registration process. The Renova Foundation respected those decisions, and therefore, did not commence indemnities in the region before the Public Civil Action was settled. The agreement was ratified by the Court of Justice of Minas Gerais (TJMG) and by the Judicial Center for the Resolution of Conflicts and Citizenship (Cejusc) in the Mariana district.

In October 2018, the Renova Foundation was authorized to start final indemnity services in Mariana and has been making payments since. As of September 30, 2020, 1,325 families were registered. At the same time, several initiatives aim to generate lasting positive impacts on the town’s economy. Learn more about the actions underway in Mariana.

In practice, after completing the registration steps (form and survey), those affected, if they wish, can already seek the Renova Foundation to negotiate and continue their final indemnity process. If they choose, they can also wait for the report prepared by Caritas and after that negotiate the indemnity.

The lost profits correspond to the income that the affected parties obtained as a final result of their productive activity that was interrupted as a direct consequence of the collapse of the Fundão dam. The indemnity for the lost profits must correspond to the income directly affected by the collapse.

Those who opted for participating in the program have the guarantee that their case, their documents, their forms, among other documents created throughout the program, will be treated with absolute restriction and confidentiality.

No information will be supplied to third parties that were not specifically authorized by the impacted party, except in the rule of law or legal order, to government authorities and to insurers of the Renova Foundation, of Samarco or its shareholders.

The impacted parties are not allowed to use any document or work produced in the context of the program in any legal actions of any kind, whether they join the program, withdraw or cancel.

People who had a proven impact on their economic activities due to the collapse of the Fundão dam, in Mariana (MG), receive at the beginning of the year the amount corresponding to the previous year’s lost profit. The compensation proposal takes into account the agreement which had been signed with the affected party. Based on it, the indemnity for the damage suffered over the corresponding year is calculated. Therefore, the proposals will be personalized and those affected can receive different amounts, which will be taxed as provided by the Federal Tax Authority.

Information that’s not available at the site of the Program can be found at the Mediated Indemnity Centers. Note that, for security reasons of the impacted parties, information about indemnity amounts will be restricted and will only be passed on to the impacted parties after enrolling in the Program.

After signing the Term of Agreement, the indemnity will be deposited into a bank account, which must belong to the affected party. The Renova Foundation will send a text message to the phone number provided during the registration to notify about the payment.

The Renova Foundation identifies those affected through the integrated register. In this sense, the number of directly affected people identified coincides with the total number of people registered whose families were considered as directly impacted.

The Mediated Indemnity Program (PIM) is intended to indemnify individuals, and legal entities (only micro and small businesses) damaged directly by the dam collapsing. The defined criteria for these damages are:

• People: Missing or deceased family members or people with whom those impacted lived and/or maintained an economically dependent relationship;
• Movable assets and real property: Lost property or possession of real property or movable assets;
• Real property use and productivity: Decreased productive capacity or viability to use a property or part of it;
• Fishing activities: Interrupted fishing activities and lost fishing and extractive resources making any extractive or productive activity impossible;
• Source of income: Lost source of income, work, or subsistence due to a ruptured link to the impacted areas;
• Productive activities: Damaged local productive activities making establishments or economic activities impossible to keep;
• Access to and use of resources: Hindered access or management activities for natural and fishery resources, including public domain land and collective use, with an impact on the income, subsistence, and way of life of the population;
• Water supply: Damage due to the interrupted drinking water supply and distribution, for more than 24 consecutive hours, as a direct consequence of the event. *There are three types of indemnifiable damages in the PIM, namely: moral and material injuries and loss of profit. However, indemnity is calculated individually for each affected person or group of affected people depending on the damage suffered and accounting for the particularities of each case.

O Atingido deve aguardar a Fundação Renova realizar o primeiro contato para agendamento no escritório do PIM, em sua região. Após o primeiro atendimento, serão agendadas, no mesmo local, novas reuniões para dar continuidade ao processo de indenização, incluindo a indenização por lucros cessantes.

Indemnity for lost profits will be paid until the conditions for the resumption of the activity from which the affected party took their income and which was directly impacted by the collapse of the dam are restored or, in cases when it is not possible to resume the activity, until conditions are established for the exercise of a new productive activity that replaces the activity that was impacted.

Yes. The affected parties who have already been compensated in the Mediated Compensation Program (PIM), who are entitled to payment of the lost profit will receive a call to schedule an appointment.

Yes, the lost profit will be paid in full without deduction of the amounts paid by way of the emergency financial aid.

The Renova Foundation provides permanent channels of communication and interaction with society through physical and virtual locations as well as a tool-free call center and works to ensure that answers are given on time, using accessible, appropriate and understandable language to stakeholders. We are available by phone on the number 0800 031 2303, for the Information and Service Center (CIA) of your region or contact us: https://www.fundacaorenova.org/fale-conosco/.

It is important that any demand is made through our official channels, as only  in these channels protocol numbers are generated which allow each demand to be followed up. We remind you that the Renova Foundation values confidentiality, so it is not possible to provide data on specific processes in public access channels. On the  User Portal’s  exclusive page, accessed using a login and password, it is possible to check the status of the indemnity process.