Adopting a critical perspective of the social sciences, this study initially analyzes some aspects of the technicism of the Brazilian Civil Defense to have it as a benchmark of the usual indifference of its technical and operational personnel to the multidimensional social suffering of the groups affected by disasters. The analytical framework is based on documentary research, especially of official records, and also a review of the literature of the main authors in the field as well as recent studies about the most emblematic recent disasters in Brazil. The conclusion reached is that concern about the multidimensional social suffering of the social groups affected by disasters is absent in the institutional framework.
Disasters; Human rights; Civil Defense; Social suffering