Year: 2019

A Police Eagle helicopter, rescue helicopter, and NZDF aircraft have undertaken a number of aerial reconnaissance flights over the island since the eruption. No signs of life have been seen at any point.

Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation. Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island.

Police is working urgently to confirm the exact number of those who have died, further to the five confirmed deceased already.

As part of the recovery a NZDF ship will approach the perimeter of the island at first light to deploy drones and observational equipment to further assess the environment.

Police continue to receive information and advice from GeoNet experts to support the recovery operation. The Police Disaster Identification (DVI) team are assembling in Whakatane to await deployment.

Both New Zealanders and overseas tourists are believed to involved, and a number were from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship. The Police 105 number can be used by members of the public to submit information regarding friends or family who might have been visiting White Island during the eruption.

People from overseas can call +64 9105 105.

They can also use the online form at the Police website here.

At the request of New Zealand Police, New Zealand Red Cross has activated the Family Links website for people wanting to register themselves as safe or register an inquiry about a loved one.

If you are worried about a friend or family member following the White Island eruption, first contact them as you normally would.

If you cannot make contact, you can register them through this website: https://familylinks.icrc.org/new-zealand/en/Pages/Home.aspx(link is external)

The friends and family of those involved remain at front of mind for Police.

Support is being put in place and Police are working to provide them with information as it becomes available.

 

 

The death toll on Portuguese roads fell between January 1 and November 30 compared to the same period of the previous year, but the number of accidents and serious injuries rose, according to official provisional data.

According to the latest report by the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR) for 11 months, 435 people died on the roads, 21 fewer than in the same period of the previous year (456).

Between January 1 and November 30 of this year, 122,322 accidents were recorded, 1,572 more than in the same period of the previous year (120,750).

In the same period, there were 2.045 severely injured people, 107 more than in the 11 months of 2018.

The MRSR also indicates that 38,332 people suffered minor injuries, 647 more than in the same period last year (37,685).

The figures from the ANSR, which gathers data from GNR and PSP, also highlights that in the last week of November (22-30 November) six people died and 48 were seriously injured following road accidents.

Between January 1st and November 30th this year, the district with the highest death toll was Porto (53), followed by Lisbon (43), Braga (34), Aveiro and Santarém (both with 32).

The district of Lisbon was the district with the most serious injuries (289), followed by Porto (209) and Faro (206).

Data from the MRSR also indicate that between December 1, 2018 and November 30, 2019, 487 road fatalities were recorded (19 fewer than December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018) while serious injuries rose to 2,248 (plus 108).

ANSR data refer to deaths occurring at the scene of the accident or during transportation to the health facility and the figures for serious injuries refer to the accident victim whose bodily injury requires a hospitalization period of more than 24 hours.

A man in his 30s died Saturday in Ribeira Brava, west of Madeira, when he was hit by a construction machine, a local fire brigade source said.

“We moved two cars and five elements, but when the first car arrived we found that there was nothing left to do,” the same source told Lusa.

The incident occurred in the morning According to firefighters, the machine is said to have fallen from a platform in a site where work is underway, hitting the man.

According to the Firefighters of Ribeira Brava and Ponta do Sol, the incident occurred at the site of Ribeira, parish of Tábua

Audrey Mash developed severe hypothermia while hiking in Catalan Pyrenees in freezing weather

A British woman suffered a cardiac arrest during a snowstorm and was revived six hours later — the longest case ever seen in Spain. Doctors said the hypothermia that nearly killed her also saved her life. … By the evening, her body temperature had risen to 30C and doctors were able to revive her using a defibrillator

She and her husband, Rohan Schoeman – who live in Barcelona – set out from Coma de Vaca to Núria on the morning of 3 November. Around lunchtime, after the temperature dropped and it began to snow, Schoeman noticed that his wife was speaking oddly and becoming incoherent.

Shortly afterwards, she stopped moving and fell unconscious. He rang friends, who helped firefighters and rescuers locate them and launch a helicopter rescue operation. But bad weather delayed the rescue and by the time they reached the pair, it was 3.30pm

“Our first assessment suggested that Audrey was in a bad way,” said one of the rescuers, Pere Serral. “We couldn’t find any vital signs and we did what we could using pre-hospital techniques.”

By that point, Mash had severe hypothermia and her body temperature had fallen to just 18C; normal body temperature is 37C. She was then taken by helicopter to the Vall d’Hebron hospital in Barcelona, which has an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (Ecmo).

When connected to a patient, the Ecmo takes over the functioning of the heart and lungs, oxygenating the blood outside the body then reintroducing it, allowing both organs to rest.

The Ecmo had never been used in Spain for a resuscitation procedure. But by 9.45pm, Mash’s body temperature had risen to 30C and the doctors tried again to revive her, using a defibrillator.

Dr Eduardo Argudo said doctors at the hospital had decided to use the machine “to win some time so that her brain could receive oxygen while we treated the cause of the cardiac arrest”.

He added: “Although hypothermia was about to kill Audrey, it also saved her because her body – and above all her brain – didn’t get any worse. If she’d been in cardiac arrest for that long with a normal body temperature, we’d have been certifying her death. But we knew that the severe hypothermia meant that we had a shot at saving her thanks to the Ecmo.”

Argudo said that while hers was the longest instance of cardiac arrest survival documented in Spain, similar cases had occurred in the Alps and in Scandinavia.

Mash, who is 34, spent six days in the intensive care unit, where doctors monitored her for signs of neurological damage.

“I’m good but a little surprised by all the attention it’s got today – it must be a slow news week,” she told the Guardian on Thursday evening.

“I recovered much faster than I, or I think the doctors, expected. I was out of intensive care after six days and out of hospital six days after that. The doctors have since told me that they expected me to be in intensive care for closer to a month.”

Mash, an English teacher who has lived in Barcelona for more than two years, said she was getting back to normal and that the ordeal had not put her off hiking.

 

According to Funchal airport authority, 13 departure flights have so far been already been cancelled for today 5^th December due to high winds. This is also reflected in flights to Funchal some of which have also be cancelled

TAP has cancelled a number of flights as they plan ahead, and a gust on 108 km/hr at the airport last night caused an EasyJet flight to return to Lisbon.

Porto Santo Line has announced that the ferry scheduled for today, inbound and outbound, will be cancelled “due to bad weather conditions that could jeopardize the safety of the ship and its passengers”. Tickets scheduled for this date will be automatically transferred to the 6th December trip, at 8 am from Funchal to Porto Santo and 2 pm from Porto Santo to Funchal.

The IPMA has issued an Orange level high winds warning until 5^TH December at 1500 hrs and in some areas 2100 hrs and Civil Protection Madeira has advised:

• Close doors and windows and remove loose objects on the balconies and pecs of the windows;
• Wherever possible, avoid travel to areas affected by this type of weather situation.
  do not move through areas with poorly maintained buildings due to the risk of landslides;
• Pay attention to mounted structures (Scaffolding, awnings, tents, roofs), which could be affected by stronger winds as well as a possibility of falling trees;
• There are risks if hiking, especially in mountain areas, exposed slopes and coastal areas, and people should take care in outdoor activities during the period in which the warning is applied.

 

More than 90% of mainland Portugal’s municipalities have “effective and up-to-date” Municipal Fire Protection Plans (PMDFCI), the Minister of Internal Affairs announced on 4^th December today, saying that Portuguese can rely on “good results”.

“The Portuguese can rely on the results, these two years – 2018 and 2019 – account for the results, […] good laws, good plans are needed, but above all good results are needed and that’s why we respond,” said Eduardo Cabrita at the presentation ceremony of the first Republican National Guard (GNR) ranger course, held in Queluz, Sintra, in the Lisbon district.

According to the information provided in the infoPMDFCI online application of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), 59 of the 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal do not have updated PMDFCI in force.

However, the minister assured that, “today, over 90% of the continent’s municipalities have effective and up-to-date plans.”

“But I would say that, in this matter, what is fundamental is the collective conscience, is the commitment of means, that alone will guarantee the results,” said Eduardo Cabrita.

Mandatory for all municipalities on the Portuguese mainland, the PMDFCI aims to operationalize at local and municipal level the standards contained in the DFCI legislation.

As part of an audit of the PMDFCI, which analysed 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal, from 2015 to 2017, the Court of Auditors concluded that 32 municipalities do not undertake to carry out the actions contained in the PMDFCI. Therefore “the fact is that the existence of PMDFCI does not, by itself, guarantee greater capacity in forest defence, although it allows the fulfillment of an obligation and attesting to a compliance status that has an impact on municipal funding.”

From the perspective of the head of the Internal Affairs portfolio, Portuguese society realized that DFCI is a theme that “demands a response throughout the year, requires knowledge, requires preparation”, stating that “if something has changed in Portuguese society, over the last two years, it has been the priority given to prevention.”

“If the results of these two years were encouraging in reducing the burned area, but especially in saving lives, I think that what has changed is the deep commitment of all public policy sectors, also the municipalities, who have realized that this is an essential area, even as first-line civil protection officials, ”said the minister, considering that in view of the“ good results ”one cannot but“ maintain this absolute priority ”.

On August 16 this year, the Government ordered the retention of 20% of the twelfth of transfers from the Financial Balance Fund to Odivelas, Paços de Ferreira and Peniche because they have not yet approved the PMDFCI.

A note from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) stated that the withholding would be made by the Directorate-General of Local Authorities.

According to the current wording of Decree-Law No. 124/2016, municipalities are required to draft, execute, evaluate and update the PMDFCI.

In addition, the MAI said in a statement at the time, the State Budget for 2019 determined that “failure to comply with this standard by 31 March 2019 will result in the retention of 20% of the twelfth of current ETF transfers”.

“After the legal deadlines for pronouncing the municipalities, and having not been answered in any of the three cases, regarding the submission of their plans to the ICNF, the retention was determined,” said the MAI.

At that time, the Government indicated that the “clarification phase for 19 municipalities with the participation of ICNF” was still underway.

The Minister of Home Affairs Eduardo Cabrita said in Brussels Monday that the latest terrorist attack in London shows how “it is essential” that the United Kingdom and the European Union continue to cooperate in the fight against terrorism, regardless of Brexit. .

“When there is an attack on the London Bridge, even at this moment when the United Kingdom could come out of the European Union, we consider that in this security matter we are all Europeans and therefore police cooperation, cooperation in the area of terrorism, cooperation in information systems will continue, “said Eduardo Cabrita, following a meeting of EU interior ministers.

Underlining that this was the first ministerial meeting with the new European Commission, Eduardo Cabrita pointed out that at this “beginning of a new phase” the main priorities for migration were discussed (Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, Director of “Promotion of the European Way of Life) and police cooperation on internal security (Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson).

In the area of ​​cooperation in the area of ​​internal security, the minister stressed “the priority given to strengthening interoperability mechanisms between national systems and European agencies – such as Frontex, Europol, and eu-LISA – and the solidarity of all European states in the fight against terrorism “.

“What happened last Friday in the United Kingdom shows that, whatever happens in the coming weeks with Brexit, cooperation with the United Kingdom is essential in this area of ​​terrorist risk prevention. The United Kingdom, we regret, but it may actually leave the EU, but it cannot leave Europe, “said Eduardo Cabrita.

 

The Castelo Branco district has been without false rural fire alarms for seven years and, with regard to rekindling, registered only two, announced the Castelo Branco district operational commander, Francisco Peraboa.

“We had [this year] zero percent of re-ignitions, one of the main causes of major fires. We are the only district so far with none registered. For about six years the district has had the lowest number of rekindles, only two”, he said.

The Castelo Branco district operational commander, Francisco Peraboa, was speaking during the 2019 assessment of the DECIR (Special Rural Fire Fighting Device) in the district.

According to the official, the burned area in the district of Castelo Branco was 6,447 hectares, and in 97% of the occurrences, the burned area was not more than one hectare.

However, Francisco Peraboa recalled that this year, in a single fire (Vila de Rei and Sertã) burned about five thousand hectares.

“A single occurrence [fire of Vila de Rei e Sertã] contributed to this number that we have [6,447 hectares]. This was a particularly severe year compared to 2017 and 2018, ”he said.

Given that the estimate for the district of Castelo Branco was 14,000 hectares of burnt area in 2019, the head of the District Relief Operations Command (CDOS) considers the numbers “acceptable”.

“The district of Castelo Branco has over 600,000 hectares and over 330,000 are pure and hard forest,” he said.

Regarding the number of ignitions, a total of 456 were registered, 7% less than the average of the last decade, and the total burned area this year corresponds to 22% less than the average of the last 10 years.

On the ground, a total of 20,000 operational personnel and 5,500 land vehicles together with 300 helicopter deployments, 173 aircraft missions were recorded and 74 track and 330 operational machines were involved.

“The initial attacks we aimed to be muscular, involving 54 operatives and 16 ground forces,” he said.

Regarding the causes that led to the ignition, the commander of the Castelo Branco CDOS said that 44% are attributable to human activity.

“It is necessary to involve the citizen and make him the first Civil Protection agent. It is in the citizen who is the alert and the first intervention. You need to realize the added value you have as a Civil Protection agent. This is the right way to improve the system”, he concluded.

 

 

Portugal is to assume, together with France, the next presidency of the ministerial council of the European Space Agency (ESA), an intergovernmental organisation for which it proposes to increase its contribution to €20 million per year

The information was released by the science minister, Manuel Heitor, who is participating in the meeting of the ESA Ministerial Council in Seville, Spain, where the ministers responsible for space activities in the 22 member states of the agency sit.

The minister told Lusa that Portugal will take advantage of the ministerial council of Seville to propose a plan to diversify the mechanisms for contracting services by ESA so that small companies like Portuguese ones can more easily access the agency’s various space programmes.

In Portugal, more specifically on the Azores island of Santa Maria, the construction of a space base to launch microsatellites for Earth observation from 2021 is planned.

Manuel Heitor said that the present moment is an opportunity to attract multinational companies to Portugal, notably from Germany and France, to diversify the industrial base and boost employment in the space sector, for which the government has set a target of 1,000 skilled jobs by 2030, in areas such as telecommunications and the construction of small satellites.

The minister reiterated the ambition for Portuguese companies in the sector to increase their turnover from the current €40-50 million a year to €400-500 million a year in 2030, by raising European funds and private investment.

 

The National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) defended today “structural changes of the building” of Civil Protection in order to “ensure the articulation” between the agents and called for greater participation of municipalities in the definition of the national strategy.

The ANMP, meeting in national congress, presented a report on the development model for the country, which argues that “revision” of the current Civil Protection Bases Law (“LBPC”) is required as a “hat law” of the entire structure of civil protection.

He also defended the revision of the Integrated Protection and Relief Operations System (SIOPS) which defines the set of structures, norms and procedures that they ensure as all current civil protection agents in the operational plan

In the document, the ANMP states that, although it agrees with the principle that the structure of civil protection of supra-municipal scope must correspond to the territory of the inter-municipal entities of the mainland, it considers that the new organization of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), unaccompanied by “structural building” alterations of the civil protection building based on the LBPC and SIOPS, “proves inconsequential, not solving the already identified problems of action, articulation and coordination among the various civil protection agents throughout the country”.

“It is important to ensure that the municipalities follow the definition of the policies and national strategy of Civil Protection and participate in the operational decisions of the management of the system and the definition of means and resources,” said the document’s rapporteur, Alfredo Monteiro, President of the Assembly of Municipal do Seixal and vice-president of the ANMP Board of Directors.

The mayor noted that the “municipalities today assume broad responsibilities in matters of Civil Protection”, in “many cases replacing the central power”.

“According to recent data, an amount of around € 200 million is invested annually in this area, which is distributed to municipal fire brigades, support to voluntary fire brigades, municipal civil protection services, permanent intervention teams, technical offices and forest sappers ”, also listed Alfredo Monteiro.

This is a “reality”, he stressed, “in which the investment of central power is still far from what this social function of the state requires.”

The ANMP understands that municipalities should “participate in the definition of policies and in the national strategy of Civil Protection”, as well as in “political decisions” for the management of the Protection System. Civil.

In addition to the chambers, it also advocates the involvement of all Civil Protection agents, from GNR, fire brigade structures, the Armed Forces or the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF).