Death seems ever-present in the slum, where a fever or disease easily caught from unclean water in the rainyseason can claim a life without much warning.
Neither made allowances in their calendar for the World Cup, which started slightly earlier this time in a failed attempt to defeat Asia's rainyseason.
The rainyseason is fast approaching and there are still more than a million people sleeping on basketball courts and in riverbeds and hospital car parks beneath hastily constructed shelters and donated tents.
Like a drought-stricken city draining its reservoir during what should be the rainyseason, the nation has been forced to tap its gasoline stockpiles this spring, leaving them well below average with the busy summer driving season still to come.
Brazilian authorities have been criticized for a lack of disaster planning, and for allowing people to build homes in areas known to become treacherous in the rainyseason.