Portugal Safety and Security report Wednesday 1st March 2023
Good morning – Today is International Civil Protection Day. Normally the annual event is held in Lisbon but this year, the national celebrations of the International Civil Protection Day will be decentralized and will take place in the Algarve.
The respective Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command (CREPC) has programmed, in partnership with the Civil Protection Services and Agents of the region, a pioneering set of initiatives to mark the event, whose climax will take place this Wednesday, March 1st. There will be a number of events celebrating this important day and we will post photos on our Facebook page.
Today is the first day of Meteorological Spring following the end of the Meteorological Winter yesterday. However although it has been relatively warm in the Algarve during the day, the yellow low minimum temperature warning remains in place until at least tomorrow in all districts of the mainland, except Faro District (Algarve).
The cold weather along with higher relative humidity levels overnight especially in the centre and north have mean that the rural fire risk has so far this year remained relatively low, increasing to moderate, with one or two municipalities at high risk on a few occasions. The number of fire so far this year stands at 1071 with 4254 hectares burned, far lower than the xx fires at the start of 2022.
It you are planning a trip to the Azores and are after good weather, then you need to study the weather patterns and warnings as closely as possible. Weather can change quickly and forecasts of more than a few days are often changed. At present depression KAMIEL is affecting the Azores, with a significant increase in wind intensity, with gusts that could reach 130 km/h in the Western Group (Flores and Corvo) and 100 km/h in the Central Group (Pico, Faial, S. Jorge, Graciosa and Terceira). Associated with it, there should be precipitation, sometimes heavy, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms, more frequent on the islands of the Central and Eastern Groups. This is not unusual for this time of the year.
If you are in the Azores the civil protection have advised to avid coastlines as waves could reach a maximum of 18 metres! Yellow and orange warnings in place central and western group respectively. Monitor here:
https://www.ipma.pt/pt/otempo/prev-sam/?p=coastalevent
A further reminder that land cleaning for those living in rural areas must be completed by 30th April 2023. The GNR have started patrols a week ago to check for compliance and at this stage advice will be given. Later this will be in the form of warnings and if cleaning work is not completed by 30th then the property owner may be fined. If you own property but this is unoccupied or rented out then this work must still be undertaken.
The 50 metres to be cleaned (not cleared completely) is measured from the building itself not the perimeter wall. This means if there is neighbouring land that is overgrown closer to your property than 50 metres it is the responsibility of the owner to clean it. This is one reason why good neighbourly relationships are important especially is small villages where your neighbour may have many relatives in the, if you are concerned that the neighbour is not cleaning the land and this poses a fire risk try and speak with the neighbour so the land is cleaned, which is in the interests of the neighbour concerned, to avoid enforcement action being taken by the GNR.
The main priorities as far as cleaning are concerned is in the high priority areas, but everyone in rural areas should comply.
We wish you a safe week ahead and enjoy the Spring time when it arrives!
News
Request for legal aid can now be made directly at Social Security Direct
Lisbon, Feb 28, 2023 (Lusa) – Legal aid can now be requested directly on the Social Security Direct page, with a response estimated in a few days, which is a “digital revolution” for the Minister of Labour and a “step giant” for the Minister of Justice.
The new service was presented today, at the headquarters of the Social Security Institute, in Lisbon, and is the result of work between various bodies belonging to the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security and the Ministry of Justice.
According to the data presented, the Social Security receives an average of 140 thousand new requests for legal aid every year, something that had to be done in person and with the delivery of various documents on paper.
It was calculated that 3 million sheets of A4 format were delivered annually, directly causing the felling of 136 trees every year.
This service required, on average, a response time of 60 days, that is, two months.
Speaking to journalists, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security assured that the objective “is that this becomes very quick, since the information is all in the system itself, articulated between the various bodies”.
“Our expectation is that the response will be very quick. Implementation begins now, we will monitor it, but make it much faster”, said Ana Mendes Godinho, without committing to any concrete deadline.
Earlier, in her speech, the minister highlighted the new service as demonstrating the “implementation of the values of April” and how “there are no insurmountable barriers”.
“In a year when we are starting to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, we are also with this symbolic process of transformation making a digital revolution, the digital revolution at the service of citizens and at the service of being a more inclusive society that it has the ability to tear down walls that cannot exist”, defended Ana Mendes Godinho.
The Minister of Justice, on the other hand, highlighted that the new service “is a giant step” towards digitally finding all available information, whether on household, income or assets, “and thus being able to determine whether that citizen whether or not you have the right to a lawyer”, pointed out Catarina Sarmento e Castro, who underlined that “there is no justice if it is not for everyone”.
The minister stressed that in 2022, 132.6 million euros were spent on legal aid, which represents an increase of 50% in the last ten years.
The Minister of Justice explained that legal aid is for those who do not have the financial means to pay for themselves, and can translate into the right to a lawyer, but also expertise from the National Institute of Legal Medicine, translation or interpretation services or mediation and arbitration.
Instead of being in person and on paper, this request is now available on the Direct Social Security page, which, in the opinion of the Minister of Justice, will also result in a faster functioning of Justice.
Minister Ana Mendes Godinho also pointed out that in seven years, access to the Direct Social Security page went from 16 million uses in 2015 to 134 million in 2022.
17 countries including Portugal join forces to prevent chemical terrorism on European soil.
Lisbon, Feb 27, 2023 (Lusa) – The PSP participated in an international counterterrorism operation promoted by Europol, in which 120 contents were identified, in five languages, from terrorism support networks, including jihadists with diverse tendencies and affiliations, was announced today.
The PSP said in a statement that the data obtained in the international operation, centred on tracking the circulation of information on high-risk chemicals, led to the triggering of protocols with providers of ‘online’ services to ensure the rapid removal of this content and the initiation of a research on their origin.
The conclusions of the operation, carried out on February 21 and involving 17 countries, will contribute, according to the PSP, “to the analysis of the current situation of threats from high-risk chemical products, which is part of the impact assessment carried out by the European Commission”.
The operation set the objective of restricting access to ‘online’ instructions/information on how to use high-risk chemicals in terrorist attacks.
The PSP explains that, through the Departments of Weapons and Explosives (DAE) and Criminal Investigation/Cybercrime Nucleus and the Special Police Unit/Centre for Inactivation of Explosive Devices and Underground Security, a “systematic analysis of the “clear ” and “dark web” (the so-called ‘clear web’ is the Internet for public and general use, while the ‘dark web’ is the part of the Internet that works based on the anonymity of users and the concealment of communication channels, being used for clandestine or illicit purposes) to identify and promote the removal of content about the use of high-risk chemical products and toxic gases resulting from their use, contained both on ‘sites’ and ‘online’ forums”.
Portugal’s participation in this operation was ensured by the PSP as a national authority with specific attributions in licensing, control and supervision of the manufacture, storage, marketing, use and transport of weapons, ammunition and explosive and similar substances (which do not belong or are intended for the Armed Forces). Armed Forces and other security forces and services), the police force also informed.
Participating countries were: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, Czechia, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, the United Kingdom