Month: November 2017

The National Civil Protection Authority (ANPC) and the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) will hold the NEAMWAVE’17 exercise tomorrow, November 3, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN INTERNAL CPX Exercise so no alarms will be sounded in public areas.

NEAMWAVE’17 aims to test the effectiveness and readiness of the Tsunami alert system implemented in the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and Related Seas region.

This is a communication exercise during which the various national and international players will exchange technical-operational notifications related to the eventuality of an earthquake responsible for the generation of a Tsunami with an impact on the Portuguese coast.

In the edition of NEAMWAVE’17 all the coastal counties included between Vila Real de Santo António and Lourinhã, that is to say, the districts of Faro, Beja, Setúbal and Lisboa districts whose riverside fronts are susceptible of being affected by a Tsunami.

Portugal participated in the different phases of the exercise through ANPC and IPMA.

The exercise involves the various levels of the structure of the national civil protection system, namely the ANPC, through the National Relief Operations Command and the district disaster relief commands of those districts, and the municipal civil protection services of the mentioned municipalities.

The IPMA is involved in the exercise as a focal point responsible for the detection and dissemination of the Tsunami alert to the ANPC, Directorate-General of the Maritime Authority (DGAM) and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC), as well as emergency management entities from several countries in the Northeast Atlantic, such as Morocco, Spain, England, Denmark and Ireland, among others.

NEAMTWS is the designation of the warning and warning system for the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and Related Oceans (Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System for the North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and Connected Seas), implemented and coordinated by the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission after the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 26, 2004.

The NEAMTWS warning and warning system focuses its action in three main areas:

1. Tsunami risk assessment;
2. Preparation and sensitization of the population;
3. Implementation of warning and warning systems in case of emergency.

Four service providers (based in France, Greece, Italy and Turkey) are currently operating in this region of the globe, which warns NEAM Member States authorities in the event of a Tsunami event or occurrence. In an operational phase, also integrating the network of service providers in the Northeast Atlantic region.

In the operation that took place 800 kms from Portugal, the Judicial Police have detained the 17 crew. Drug was hidden in a tank

The action was in the style of a Hollywood movie. At the request of the Judicial Police, a Navy Corvette went to the south of Morocco, in the Atlantic Ocean, between Casablanca and Agadir, 800 kms from Portugal, carrying a group of special operatives.

The Marines boarded a speedboat, approached the freighter, climbing on board. With the Marines on board, the 17 crew members – Indians and Pakistanis – did not offer any resistance, which allowed the anti-narcotics team of the Judicial Police to enter the freighter and make the arrests. None of the alleged traffickers were armed.

The intervention took place the night of Thursday to Friday (26^th/27^th October 2017) and the ship is now in the custody of the PJ. The only cargo on board the 115-meter freighter with the Comoros flag, was 1130 kg of cocaine with the packages bearing the Hugo Boss logo. The drug was hidden in the underside of the ship, in an empty ballast tank (they usually receive ballast water to maintain vessel stability).

“This was also the result of an exchange of information within the framework of the MAOC-N – Maritime Analysis and Operations Center-Narcotics, which is based in Lisbon,” said DN Joaquim Pereira, director of the Unit for Combating Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs (UNCTE) of the PJ, who yesterday explained to the press the operation, flanked by commanders Carvalho Pinto, director of the naval operations center of the Navy and Bernardo da Costa, Air Force spokesman FA). The monitoring of the ship was undertaken by the Air Force.

The drugs would be worth around 50 million euros (bills made at 45 euros a gram of cocaine) but after treating the cocaine would be worth three times more than that, said those responsible.

Bosnia, Timor, Haiti, Central African Republic and now New York. Luís Carrilho is the new UN police adviser

As a special adviser to the United Nations Police, he takes a goals of the organization very seriously: “We need to increase the number of women police in United Nations missions.” It is an important objective for operational reasons: “On the ground – the insecurity that justifies the presence of the UN in many conflict countries – there are many victims and vulnerable groups who need support and women police have a better ability to protect civilians, particularly children, women, the elderly and those mutilated.

While still in command of the United Nations police corps at the RCA peace mission, Luís Carrilho was honoured with Outstanding Role Model, becoming the first Portuguese official to receive such a UN distinction. Now, as a police adviser, Luís Carrilho will continue with his eyes on the world map, but this time as a strategist.. “The division where I am is strategically coordinating police actions on the ground both in peacekeeping missions such as the Central African Republic and in political missions such as the Guinea Bissau.”

The official recalls that, currently, there are 18 international missions where the UN police force is located. “It is important that there are people with technical skills and an adequate profile for these missions and that coordination between the mission and the member countries is done in an integrated way through the Police Division in New York,” he said.

Luís Carrilho praises the role that the various Portuguese security forces have had in missions abroad, “including the GNR and the Foreigners and Borders Service, but also civilian technicians who in Timor made a huge contribution.”

October was the hottest October for 87 years according to the Portuguese Institute of Ocean and Atmosphere (IPMA). Since 1931 there was no such a hot October, with the average air temperature about 3 ° C above the normal value.

The difference is more noticeable if we look at the average value of the maximum temperature, which was the highest since 1931, about 5 ° C above the normal value.

The IPMA highlights the occurrence of new highs and highs for the month of October, with special emphasis on the 15th, which was the hottest day of the month.

There were two heat waves, from 1 to 16 and from 23 to 30 October, which covered a large part of the continent, with the exception of the coastal regions. The first heat wave had a maximum duration of 15/16 days and is among the longest for the month of October.

Regarding rainfall, October was classified as extremely dry – the driest of the last 20 years, which contributed to leaving the entire continent of the continent in severe drought (24.8%) or extreme (75.2%) drought,