Follow our live blog about the fires here
The Minister of Territorial Cohesion guaranteed this Wednesday, in Vila Real, that the municipalities affected by the fires will be entitled to aid, provided that they meet the criteria of burned area and regardless of the declaration of a state of calamity.
A guarantee that we leave to the mayor of Vila Real is that, regardless of the state of calamity or any other classification, we are in the presence of a very serious problem, some 6,000 hectares burned here, and, therefore, the municipalities that meet certain criteria, that will be the burned area, everyone will have the right to a set of supports”, said Ana Abrunhosa.
This Wednesday, the minister visited municipalities affected by rural fires and spoke with journalists after a meeting in the Chamber of Vila Real, a municipality where a fire that broke out on Sunday is still active, and said that “it is always terrible to see a completely black scenario “, in which only the towns escaped. “It is a drama that always leaves us quite shocked,” he stressed.
Asked about the calamity request recently made by the mayor of Ourém, the official replied: “What we are doing in Vila Real will happen in Ourém, which is the exhaustive survey of the damage, in different dimensions, and then the resolution of the problem. Council of Ministers will apply to all municipalities that contemplate the minimum burned area that we will define.
Ana Abrunhosa said that the burned area criterion will be defined in the council of ministers and added that it will be “very similar” to the one used in Pedrógão Grande.
What I think is important for all mayors to realize is that there will be no differentiation of territories whether or not there is a declaration of a state of calamity. The declaration of the state of calamity may be made in a certain type of territory, with a very particular context, but this will not harm, will not discriminate in terms of support measures to any municipality that meets the criteria to access these measures, has or no state of calamity has been declared. This is the guarantee that I want to leave here”, he underlined.
For the mayor of Vila Real, Rui Santos, it is “absolutely indifferent whether it is called a state of calamity, resolution, what matters is that there are concrete measures that respond to the needs of the territory.”
The support, according to the minister, “will depend on the survey” of losses in the forestry, agricultural, public facilities and in the tourism area. In the case of Vila Real, it must be done within the next 10 days.
A “work methodology for surveying fire damage” was defined, which will be carried out by the municipality with state entities in the region, such as the Nature and Forest Conservation Institute, the Northern Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries (DRAPN ) and Social Security.
And after revealing everything “what was damage from the fires”, according to the minister, it is necessary to understand which interventions are “very urgent to carry out” and which, for example, have to do with traffic safety and soil stabilization . to prevent the ashes from the fire from sinking into the aquifers in the first rains.
Measures will also be designed to “make these territories more resilient in the forestry and agricultural fields, but also to” diversify the economic base of these territories.”
Ana Abrunhosa recalled that Portugal 2030 is starting and that the Recovery and Resilience Plan is underway, which already provides for a set of measures.
This morning the mayor of Vila Real had already counted an area burned by this fire of about 6,000 hectares.
In the fight against the fire that started in Samardã, in Vila Real, there were, at 8:00 p.m., 397 operatives and 112 vehicles. During the afternoon they had the support of aerial means to face the various reactivations that were taking place in the perimeter, after the fire was solved this morning.
Source: Observadora
