Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 3rd May 2023
Good morning – Yesterday the President of the IPMA, Miguel Miranda, forecast in the coming months the continuation of high temperatures, absence of precipitation and very high fire danger. He added that the objective is not to be alarmist, but realistic and to act preventively.
Since February we have had little precipitation. The probability of precipitation from here until the summer is low and, therefore, we will have tension in many areas, in the environment, in supply, in dams, resulting in fires. Miguel Miranda stressed that the risk of fire will have high levels, highlighting that everyone has to prepare for the summer and balance the economy with the lives of citizens.
He added that February was a hot and dry month and April was marked by three heat waves, with 89% of the territory in a drought situation, with 34% in severe and extreme drought (South Region).
The Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, told journalists that the Government has been raising awareness among institutions and municipalities to have fire defence plans prepared, but also people with regard to cleaning the land.
“People should go to city councils, municipal civil protection services, they should go to fire departments and try to maintain cleaning work (…) always accompanied by municipal civil protection teams or firefighters in order to who can do it while safeguarding their lives and assets”, said José Luís Carneiro.
It is extremely important that land cleaning continues and people are encouraged to approach councils and seek assistance when needed. Undertaking extensive land cleaning alone in increasing hot temperatures can pose risks in itself, both the risk to health, accidents and causing fires if ill prepared to undertake the burning of debris. It is better to get assistance rather than take risks.
We also ask our readers to familiarize yourselves of actions to take should a rural fire break out in your area which develops to a stage which it could affect your property. It is important to have a plan of action to take and also in the event an evacuation becomes necessary. It is also essential that all family members are involved in the plan. If you have animals it is important that these are taken into account.
As we move into the summer, we strongly advise everyone, especially those living in rural areas to study the daily fire risk, to determine the risk not only in the area where you living, but also you maybe be visiting. This is posted daily on this page. As we have previously stressed the potential intensity of fires is important, as well as understanding how fires develop and spread.
There has been some great work undertaken by the security forces in the recent seizures of several large quantities of drugs en-route to Portugal as a landing point; the eventual destination being mainly northern Europe. The latest is by the Judicial Police through the National Unit to Combat Narcotics Trafficking, of around 4.2 tonnes of cocaine originating in Latin America. The drugs in question, which has a high degree of purity, was transported to Portugal by sea concealed in a shipment of fruit on pallets, more specifically bananas, which entered national territory through the Port of Setúbal.
This seizure is the result of the intense activity of gathering information carried out by the Judiciary Police, in close articulation with the authorities of other countries and with various national entities. Such drugs have considerable value, but more importantly is the damage to health and often death such drug abuse brings. This year is likely to be one of the highest in terms of drug seizures by Portugal, most being hashish and cocaine.
Our team at Safe Communities wish you an enjoyable and safe week ahead.
News
89% of the territory is in drought and a hot May is coming
The forecasts advanced by the IPMA at the meeting that also included the presidents of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) and the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests point to a “month of May that is hotter than normal and without rain”. After months with below normal precipitation values and above normal temperatures.
With April being among the five hottest since there are records, with three heat waves and temperatures above 30. º. In terms of fire risk, April was “the most severe since 2003 and by a wide margin”. In addition, explains the IPMA in a statement that the accumulated burned area in 2023 “is above the average of the last 16 years, both in Portugal and in Austria, Ireland or Spain”.
Factors that, combined, increase the risk of fire, with the Minister of Internal Administration revealing that “ANEPC determined the constitution of 40 teams; more than 200 elements that are prepositioned in the territory to mobilize”. Reinforcing, quoted by Lusa, the importance and urgency of land clearing.
Looking at the meteorological drought, it has already spread to 89% of the territory, with 34% referring to the most serious classes (severe and extreme), affecting the Alentejo and the Algarve. On the other hand, “the percentage of water in the soil is almost zero in several areas of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, in the centre and south of the Continent”.
“The probability of precipitation from here until the summer is low and, therefore, we will have tension in many areas, in the environment, in supply, in dams, in fires”, he said, quoted by Lusa, the president of IPMA. The Minister for the Environment reaffirmed that “measures could be taken from a contingency point of view” given the lack of supply capacity in some areas of the country.
Mosquitos in Portugal are “Under control”
We have entered mosquito season. From May to October, technicians working in the REVIVE surveillance program have their hands full. It is necessary to know the species that enter the country and where they live. In recent years, Aedes albopictus, the vector of the Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya viruses, has been a major concern, but has so far been controlled. “It is unlikely that there will be outbreaks for the time being”, says an INSA researcher speaking to DN.
In the biologist’s lists, there are at least 100 invasive species in the world, but there is only one mosquito, Aedes albopictus. And it is this that is now cause for concern. However, in Portugal, 40 species of mosquitoes have already been identified. Aedes albopictus (Asian Tiger mosquito) is of Asian origin, originating in Japan, and a vector for Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya viruses. The researcher at the Department of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health Ricardo Jorge (INSA) and coordinator of the National Vector Surveillance Network (REVIVE), Maria João Alves, says that, for now, “what has been found in the country makes us believe that the species is under control and that there is a very low probability of having autochthonous cases and outbreaks”.
However, she points out: “We cannot say that there is no possibility of outbreaks, because Aedes albopictus is a vector, and things can change at any moment, but in the surveillance that we have been carrying out in this area for over 15 years, we have never found infected mosquitoes and for these to be able to infect people, there would have to be a combination of factors, such as greatly increasing their abundance and having a person infected with Dengue, coming from a tropical area, who would settle precisely in a region of Portugal where this mosquito exists, to be able to infect mosquitoes that are not infected”.
But this alone is not enough. That is, even if there is an abundance of mosquitoes and weather conditions are favourable for transmitting the virus to the mosquito, which would happen due to the fact that it “feeds” on human blood, the infection would only take place if the person settled in that region within the first five days as a carrier of the virus, which means that the risk of having autochthonous cases of Dengue, Zika or Chikungunya, in other places outside their natural habitat, is very low.
However, what we want is to keep the number of specimens as low as possible so that there is no possibility of transmission of infectious agents”. She stressed, being bitten by a mosquito does not mean one contracts any of the diseases (dengue, zika, chikungunya) that this species carries.