Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 6th March 2024
Good morning everyone. Well it looks like we are having a late winter, with plenty of snow in parts of the north and central regions. Yesterday and today are dryer days but in the next few days there will be adverse weather in many areas, with snow in the mountains and the risk of floods.
This will be caused by cold air masses that are arriving, in addition to feeding the genesis of storms that will affect us during this week (which will probably leave abundant rain). It will cause a sharp drop in temperatures, which will reach values below the average for the season for most of the week. There are various heavy snow forecasts with around 80 centimetres of snow in the Sera da Estrela .There will be ice and frost formation, as well as morning fog in places inland North and Centre. So we can expect weather warnings in addition to the orange level rough seas warning which comes into effect in 10 districts on Thursday.
Needless to say it is important to follow the advice given in these warnings, especially on the roads, which is there for your own safety.
I hope you were able to attend one of the civil protection day events that were held throughout on the country on 1stMarch. Safe Communities Portugal was at the one held in Quarteira, an event that received many visitors. If you did not, there are plenty more opportunities as throughout the country, during the month of March, the Regional and Sub-regional Emergency and Civil Protection Commands mark the date, promoting, in partnership with the Humanitarian Firefighter Associations, Municipal Civil Protection Services and other Civil Protection Agents, activities for different audiences, such as simulations, exhibitions and/or days of reflection, focusing on a decentralized celebration, closer to the citizen, thus highlighting the crucial role that the local level plays in the national civil protection system and in the coordination of efforts between all agents in order to face increasingly complex challenges.
One of these will be held at the Albufeira Civil Protection headquarters on 21st, 22nd and 23rd March. Safe Communities Portugal will be attending with a display stand and giving a presentation – more details later.
Turning now to fuel management (land cleaning) According to the order published on Feb 27th, inspection of fuel management (land cleaning) in the 991 priority parishes will be carried out between May 1st and 31st on properties adjacent to buildings in rural areas (within a range of 50 meters) and in population clusters. GNR’s “Safe Forest Campaign 2024” operation is already taking place throughout the territory, with a view to guaranteeing the safety of residents, their property and also the forestry heritage.
This month, the phase of monitoring non-compliant spaces and raising awareness among their owners is going on about the mandatory cleaning and maintenance of fuel management lanes. If you have doubts/questions you should check your local GNR Facebook page or your local Camara Municipal FB page or local Junta de Freguesia FB page. All these entities may have relevant information published. Also for any questions, do not hesitate to contact the GNR SEPNA line at number 𝟖𝟎𝟖 𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝟓𝟐𝟎. The up to date information in English can be found here.
Turning now to fraud and scams. The Republican National Guard (GNR) recorded 21,548 fraud crimes in 2023, highlighting the predominance of computer and communications fraud and bank fraud. These numbers, still provisional (but which are not expected to vary much) represent an increase compared to 2022, the year in which 17,969 fraud crimes were recorded.
Monitoring this subject, there does appear to be a number of widespread scams/frauds mainly through text messaging and emails, ranging from AT (tax authority), calls in English from someone pretending to police saying you are under investigation; the purchase and sale of vehicles, property rental fraud, EDP scams etc. There are many of these around and it is important to check carefully before clicking on and links or providing personal information. Remember if an offer appears too good to be true then it is likely a scam!
Our team at Safe Communities wish you a happy and safe week ahead.
News
ANEPC promotes open day for schools and the public – Exhibition of operational resources and equipment (demonstration) March 6th
The National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) is promoting this Wednesday, March 6, an open day for schools and the public.
During this day, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, the ANEPC facilities, in Carnaxide, will be open to pre-school students, 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education, and to the general public, with an exhibition of operational means and equipment of Firefighters and other civil protection agents and services, highlighting dog team demonstration sessions, search and rescue, extrication techniques, and other awareness-raising actions in the field of civil protection.
The President of ANEPC, Duarte da Costa, will be present at the opening session of the day open to schools and the public, at 10 am, and will welcome all students/visitors.
The initiative is part of the commemorative program for March 1st, Civil Protection Day 2024, an event established at a global level by the International Civil Protection Organization (OIPC) and at a national level by Order of the Minister of Internal Administration (Order no. 6915/2008, of February 21).
Throughout the country, during the month of March, the Regional and Sub-regional Emergency and Civil Protection Commands mark the date, promoting, in partnership with the Humanitarian Firefighter Associations, Municipal Civil Protection Services and other Civil Protection Agents, activities for different audiences, such as simulations, exhibitions and/or days of reflection, focusing on a decentralized celebration, closer to the citizen, thus highlighting the crucial role that the local level plays in the national civil protection system and in the coordination of efforts between all agents in order to face increasingly complex challenges.
In Portugal and around the world, the anniversary aims to raise awareness of the importance of civil protection, in safeguarding human life, property, cultural and environmental heritage in the face of serious accidents and catastrophes, paying tribute to all civil protection agents and promote reflection and dialogue around the risks to which populations and territories are subject, and the role that each of us, citizens, play in the collective effort to create resilient communities.
Mission in the deep sea of Madeira may have discovered new species
For almost a month now, this remotely operated vehicle, which can reach a depth of two thousand meters, has been bringing news from the so-called “deep sea”.
Getting to know Madeira’s deep sea better is the challenge of an international expedition, which set out at the beginning of the month and is about to end. Researchers believe that new species have already been identified for the region and perhaps for science.
For almost a month now, this remotely operated vehicle, which can reach a depth of two thousand meters, has been bringing news from the so-called “deep sea”.
This is the fifth expedition in the last 50 years in the Madeira Sea
“Madeira is already a large research vessel in the middle of the Atlantic, that is, it has privileged access to the deep sea. In other words, if we swim 200-300 meters away from the coast, we already have the deep sea beneath us”, says the coordinator of Maré Madeira-Arditi, João Canning-Clode.
The expedition brings together 22 researchers from five nationalities on board the Merian , on one of the most sophisticated research ships.
One of the priorities of this three-week mission is to understand the role of jellyfish in the food chain.
The expedition ends in a few days and a very promising assessment is already being made.
“It seems that they have already made a series of discoveries of various plagic organisms, and that these are new records for the region, and may even be new records for science. We will only be sure what type of species we are talking about after this campaign”, adds the researcher.
This mission also coincides with the news that the Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences in Madeira has won a European project, with the same international partners as this expedition, for deep sea training worth one and a half million euros