A hundred people participated this Tuesday in an evacuation exercise in a parish, on the island of Terceira, in the Azores, in which a volcanic eruption scenario was tested.
“It is the first exercise of this type that has been done. We believe it is extremely important because We have a very real possibility that one day we will need to do this.“, the president of the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, Álamo Meneses, told reporters.
The objective was to evacuate the entire parish of Cinco Ribeiras, located in the western part of the island of Terceira, where the earthquakes have been felt most as part of the seismovolcanic crisis that has affected the island for more than two years.
Since June, the Santa Bárbara volcano has been on V3 alert, on a scale from 0 to 6, which means confirmation of the reactivation of the volcanic system, with signs of high activity.
According to the president of the Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service of the Azores (SRPCBA), Rui Andrade, the exercise was not carried out because there were signs of an eruption, but to prepare the population.
“I believe that the population is enlightened, now we cannot ignore our permanent condition. Our susceptibility to seismic or volcanic events was what it is today a thousand years ago,” he stated.
At 6:00 p.m., the population, previously contacted, gathered in the center of the parish and from there left in their own vehicles or buses to the Population Concentration and Support Zone, in the city of Angra do Heroísmo.
If the scenario were real, the only difference is that they would have been warned through messages or sirens.
Nursing home users with minor mobility difficulties were also transferred to other infrastructure, to test internal emergency plans.
In one of the least populated parishes in the municipality, with about 680 inhabitants, only about a hundred joined the call, but there were many who placed a piece of green, red or blue cloth or plastic at the door of their house. , as requested by Civil Protection.
“Red identifies that there is someone in that house who needs help. When the recognition teams visit the different streets, they identify that they should stop and help that resident,” explained Rui Andrade.
In most houses there was a green symbol on the door, a sign that the house was already empty, but if animals had been left behind, a blue symbol had to be placed so that they could be rescued.
Upon arriving at the Angra do Heroismo Municipal Sports Pavilion, the inhabitants filled out a first registration and address form. Then, they waited on the bench while the Red Cross set up 120 beds.
Tonight everyone sleeps at home, but, if the scenario were real, the pavilion would have the capacity to accommodate about two hundred people.
Sandra Fabre has been feeling the earth shake for two years and still remembers the 1980 earthquake, which destroyed part of the island.
He believes the simulated scenario could be real, but feels that at this time the resources are more prepared.
“It is a good prevention exercise. “You never know if this is possible or not and if it happens, at least we already have an idea of what we should do,” he said.
Filomena Brasil shared the same opinion. “It is a situation that can happen and that is why we are here to learn. In a real situation it will be much easier,” he noted.
Regarding the possibility of the scenario becoming real, the resident guarantees not to live with that fear.
“I accept this as something very natural. “We live in an area that is volcanic and we are subject to earthquakes, volcanoes are activated and, therefore, it is normal for this to happen,” he stated.
In addition to the population, more than 100 people from 13 entities participated in this exercise, such as regional and municipal Civil Protection, parish council, government departments, Red Cross, PSP or GNR.
In a first analysis, even during the year, the president of the Civil Protection of the Azores made a positive assessment.
“The entities are interacting, they are integrated, they are coordinated. I see the population involved in a way that I have not seen in any exercise. (…) The objectives are being met to a large extent, we are taking the system to high levels of demand and thus we must test them, with the hope that we never have to use them,” he stressed.
According to Rui Andrade, the drill, integrated into the quarterly Civil Protection exercises, aimed to test the planning and coordination instruments between entities, but also to “reinforce the culture of the population in Civil Protection and guarantee that they are more prepared, more informed , more qualified and aware of the risks and dangers.”
The president of the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo guaranteed that all parishes in the municipality already have defined concentration points, in case an evacuation is necessary.
After the exercise, a meeting will be held to identify what went wrong and fine-tune procedures, with the intention of “publishing a set of instructions that will be distributed to the population.”
“It has never been tested on this scale, we are testing it in collaboration with regional Civil Protection and the parish, to ensure that, if necessary, we have the conditions and particularly the level of coordination necessary to make it possible. It is done without problems,” stressed the mayor.
Source: Observadora
