These are difficult times for the citizens of Brazil as the country keeps getting ravaged by natural disasters one after the other. Kelly Piquet, a Brazillian model and partner of Max Verstappen, recently shared alarming news about the ongoing wildfires in Brazil.
According to a recent social media post from non-profit charity organizations, Karmagawa and SaveTheReef, South America has been facing historic levels of drought conditions, conditions not seen since 1902. This has resulted in the continent being engulfed in wildfires with Brazil being one of the worst affected nations.
Kelly Piquet shared via her Instagram story that the situation in Brazil is disturbing, to say the least as the numbers tell a heartbreaking story. Approximately 160,000 fires have been registered in Brazil in 2024 burning away an area equal to the size of Italy. Piquet couldn’t say much as she simply captioned her story, “Heartbreak after heartbreak”.
Brazil is being ravaged by wildfires burning an area equal to that of Italy.#Brazil #Formula1 #KellyPiquet pic.twitter.com/xlxoSTUkTb
— Formula World (@F1_Grand_Prix) September 13, 2024
Approximately 60% of Brazil is covered by smoke from these fires and 9% of the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland area, located mostly in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, has been consumed by flames.
Guillermo Villalobos, a political scientist at Bolivian nonprofit Foundation Solon, highlighted the severity of the devastation happening in South America: “The fires in California or the fires in Europe, those aren’t the same as the fires in South America. There’s an enormous difference — the loss of biodiversity.”
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What makes the situation worse for Brazil is that it is still recovering from the devastating floods that affected the nation earlier this year.
Kelly Piquet keeps fighting for her homeland
Back in May, Brazil was devastated by floods caused due to unprecedented rainfall with the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul facing the bulk of the damage. Even then, Kelly Piquet was amongst those who were working tirelessly to help with the rescue and relief operations.
She raised $100,000 for flood relief efforts in Brazil through a fundraiser in Miami with the help of her collective called “The Bazaar For Good” — a group of 30 women focused on charitable causes. The fundraiser included a clothing outlet where all proceeds went towards helping those affected by the floods in Rio Grande do Sul.
Even Verstappen supported the cause by donating a signed Red Bull Racing shirt, which was auctioned to raise additional funds. Piquet has often been a strong voice in raising awareness about things that need fixing in the modern world.
A recent case in point was her Instagram story supporting a non-profit organization ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ in their efforts to raise funds for cleaning the biggest plastic zone in the Pacific Ocean called the ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. This operation would cost approximately $7.5 billion.
