Recovering from the rains

President Dilma Rousseff came to Rio last night to announce the construction of 8,000 new homes for victims of the worst landslides in Brazil’s history. The houses will go to those who lost theirs, as well as families whose homes remain at risk of future disasters. They can't be built fast enough. The newspaper O Globo visited an at-risk neighborhood in Nova Friburgo, the town that suffered the most deaths, where reporters found families returning to their homes even though the government had declared the area off limits.

And in the nearby town of Petropolis, rental prices have shot up more than 30 percent since locals began receiving government support to pay for housing. It seems hard to believe the government's response will help deal with the problem —the municipality appealed to property owners not to raise rents.

As survivors try to move forward, officials continue to search for bodies. The toll has now reached 841.