Tornado, Civil Defense and Chapecó: Google searches spike after storms in SC

Aerial images show the extent of the damage after a tornado devastated the city of SC — Photo: @dechapeco/disclosure

Searches for Chapecó (SC) on Google grew 160% after a tornado passed through the region last week. The information is contained in a survey on the platform itself.

The data was released on Friday afternoon (6) and considers Google Trends searches in the previous 24 hours. The interest in the tornado in Chapecó surpassed other issues of national repercussion in the period, such as Cristiano Ronaldo's retirement from the national team and the "sin tax".

In Santa Catarina, queries about "tornado" grew 500% in the period evaluated. Searches for the term "Civil Defense" also registered an increase of 190%.

🔎 Google Trends calculates data by dividing interest in a term by the total volume of searches for each location. The methodology allows comparing the interest of regions with populations of different sizes in a proportional way.

Santa Catarina and Paraná led the search interest in tornadoes in the country. In the same 24-hour period, Brazil was at the top of the world ranking of searches on the topic, ahead of Argentina and Paraguay

The state of Santa Catarina recorded, in recent days, three tornadoes: in Chapecó, Xanxerê and Rio Negrinho, in addition to two microexplosions. In total, 62 municipalities declared an emergency.

Among the most frequently asked questions by Brazilians on the search platform are:

"What's the strongest tornado?"

"What is f2 tornado?"

"How many tornadoes were there in Brazil?"

"How to protect yourself from a tornado?".

Start of the tornado in Chapecó — Photo: Reproduction