Azores Situation Report Wednesday 5th June 2024

Azores Civil Protection exercise will involve more than 400 participants in Terceira

The ‘TOURO24’ exercise, the largest organized annually by the Civil Protection of the Azores, which begins on Thursday on the island of Terceira, will mobilize more than 400 participants, including operatives, entities and extras, simulating “a seismo-volcaeic scenario”.

According to the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA), during the exercise, which takes place between June 6th and 8th, “an increase in seismo-volcaeic activity will be simulated in the western part of the island, more specifically in the Santa Bárbara volcano, which will provoke manifestations of volcanism and the occurrence of earthquakes of high magnitude”.

Based on this scenario, the various civil protection agents will have to act in the face of the different events that will be triggered, testing their capacity to respond, coordinate and articulate.

Civil protection says that ‘TOURO24’ will last 72 hours, taking place in the LIVEX modality (‘Live Exercise’), that is, with the movement of resources on the ground, “it is estimated that it will mobilize more than 400 participants with direct and indirect intervention, including operators, entities and extras”.

The objective of the exercise, which takes place on the island of Terceira, is “to test the response capacity of the various civil protection agents in the face of a seismo-volcaeic scenario”.

The regional secretary for Environment and Climate Action, Alonso Miguel, who oversees Civil Protection and will monitor ‘TOURO24’ operations on the ground, highlights the carrying out of this exercise “as a way of strengthening the response of civil protection agents and ensure that the region is better prepared to face serious accidents or catastrophes”.

During the drill, calls for help will be made and, in different locations on the island, events such as “obstruction of access roads, movement of slopes, communications failures, search and rescue in collapsed structures, setting up of concentration zones and support for the population will be staged”, preventive evacuations”, among other incidents, details Civil Protection.

Around 30 entities participate in ‘TOURO24’, including civil protection agents (fire departments from all islands, security forces, Armed Forces, bodies of the National Maritime Authority, health professionals and the Portuguese Red Cross).

Municipal councils, government departments and entities with a duty to cooperate, technical and scientific research institutions, electricity and communications companies and media outlets also participate in the exercise.

This year, a group of evaluators made up of elements from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, the Lisbon Firefighters Regiment, the Regional Civil Protection Service of Madeira, the National Institute of Medical Emergency and the command of the emergency services will also be present.

Floods force the relocation of 20 families

Ribeira Grande firefighters were called to intervene in the parishes of Matriz da Ribeira Grande, Ribeirinha and Gramas due to flooding that forced 20 families to be relocated.

The bad weather experienced yesterday in Ribeira Grande caused several floods in the parishes of Matriz, Ribeirinha and Lugar das Gramas which, in addition to causing damage to vehicles and homes, forced the relocation of 20 families in the municipality. The president of the Ribeira Grande City Council said that this “phenomenon” was a “waterspout” that hit Ribeira Grande.

According to the mayor, the critical points affected were the city centre, “where the river overflowed and flooded some streets in the centre and also the Ribeirinha area”, as well as in the “Grams area”.

20 families in need of relocation,  have been identified and that the municipality’s social action teams, together with the Social Security Institute of the Azores, are finding “solutions” to overcome the situation. .

For its part, the Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service of the Azores recorded a total of 43 occurrences at the time of writing this edition, all in this municipality, and the situations reported “are related to flooding on roads and flooding in homes”, reads a statement sent to newsrooms.

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