Praça da Igreja Matriz, in João Câmara Bruno Vital/g1 Maria de Lourdes Vital still remembers the value of the heritage that the family left behind when they left João Câmara "afraid of the earthquakes". Two houses, a commercial space and a piece of land were sold for just 12 cruises. "People even traded houses for brown sugar. All they wanted to do was get out of there", he recalls. In November 1986, Lourdes left the city with her husband and 11 children, days before the great 5.1 earthquake. Like thousands of residents, she believed there was no longer a future there. ?? "João Câmara, Terra dos Abalos" is a special series from g1 that remembers the 40th anniversary of the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Rio Grande do Norte and one of the biggest in Brazil. The third report shows how a city that was abandoned by almost half of the population managed to rise again. ? Click here to follow the g1 RN channel on WhatsApp Three years later, in 1989, Maria de Lourdes returned to João Câmara. He found a city different from the one he had left: marked by destruction, but also by the reconstruction efforts of a population that decided to remain. Now retired, former market vendor Maria de Lourdes is a symbol of João Câmara's reconstruction. At 85 years old, she continues to live in João Câmara and does not intend to leave the city. “Our whole life is here,” he says. MORE wind energy in Rio Grande do Norte. The natural phenomenon recorded in the early hours of November 30, 1986 was not just a geological event. For those who lived in João Câmara, it represented a break in people's routine, plans and relationship with the place where they lived. The problem did not end when the biggest shock passed and the sequence of tremors continued for years, which helped to fuel the population's fear. "If you have small tremors, but it's shaking all the time, it shakes people enormously", explains Joaquim Mendes Ferreira, retired professor and one of the pioneers of seismology in Rio Grande do Norte. House with cracks in 1986 LabSis Archive/UFRN The consequence was a mass escape and among those who left was Maria de Lourdes. The family sold their assets, moved to Assú and spent years trying to rebuild their lives. "We had a hard time. There were a lot of children to feed, rent to pay. It was very difficult. We endured four years of suffering there. We returned to live in João Câmara in a rented house", he says. The return did not erase the difficulties. Despite the emotional attachment to the city, the feeling was of starting a new life in a different place. Lourdes' husband died in 1996, and she had to continue raising her children. "A son of God sold me a small ranch, I started working in street markets. We were building this new house, paying little by little, but it was a time of great suffering", he reports. Reconstruction While residents tried to rebuild their lives, João Câmara also needed to get back on his feet physically. Houses were recovered, public structures were reorganized and emergency actions tried to return a minimum routine to the population from 1987 onwards. Former mayor Ribamar Leite remembers the emergency situation, with families without work and depending on help to survive. "A large part of the population worked in a regular way. self-employed or did odd jobs. This part was left unworked. We needed to feed this population." Tents were set up in public spaces Osório Avelino Soares Archive The city hall organized the distribution of food through the streets with the vehicles available. There were also improvised solutions to serve residents. A circus was transformed into a field hospital after health structures began to be considered unsafe. "It was the Circo da Cultura, which roamed the State. We managed to bring him in to alleviate the problem, bring joy to the population. After a while, I spoke to governor Radir Pereira and he authorized the circus to stay in the city to be transformed into a hospital", says Ribamar. The reconstruction of housing was also essential for people to return. According to the former mayor, around 1,200 houses between João Câmara and Poço Branco were built or rebuilt after the earthquake. Some houses renovated by Brazilian Army teams still feature the coat of arms of the Construction Engineering Battalion. Houses still feature the coat of arms of the Army Sérgio Henrique Santos/Inter TV Cabugi and Bruno Vital/g1 It was in this process that the city began to regain confidence that it was possible to continue living there. "When I saw that this was decided and that the government sent the appeal, I saw people returning to João Câmara, I started to notice that João Câmara was not going to leave as many people said he would," says Ribamar. that period: Monsignor Luiz Lucena Dias. He passed away in 2017, at the age of 90. Monsignor Lucena used to remember the close relationship he developed with João Câmara. Pereira/Wikimedia Commons For Ribamar, he was essential in preventing the population from completely losing hope.