Azores Situation Report Wednesday 10th July 2024

Two deaths in the space of a year in Ribeira dos Caldeirões

The death of the Portuguese tourist on Sunday was the second tragic incident at that tourist spot in the Northeast. In 2023, a teacher also fell and ended up dying.

In the space of a year, there were two deaths from falls in Ribeira dos Caldeirões.

The first case occurred in the summer of 2023 and claimed the life of a teacher. According to reports from a tour guide who was at the scene, the person in question fell into the river, next to the waterfall that is close to the local accommodation in Ribeira dos Caldeirões. Although she was still rescued at the scene and transported to the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo, she ended up dying.

The second victim was last Sunday, a 62-year-old national tourist, who suffered a fatal fall from a height of 20 meters, after losing her balance while taking photographs.

According to information gathered by Açoriano Oriental from the fire department, the accident occurred at around 1:30 pm, at a waterfall located at a lower elevation than the regional road, close to the Ribeira dos Caldeirões Park area. The victim died at the scene.

In both situations, the Northeast fire brigade highlighted the need to work on the issue of safety, whether by placing danger or prohibition signs, or placing protective guards, to prevent future occurrences.

Located in the parish of Achada, Ribeira dos Caldeirões Park is one of the main tourist attractions in the municipality, known for its waterfalls, gardens and watermills. It has a trail and is very popular for canyoning.

Azores secures acquisition of land for new Ribeira Grande Health Centre

The Government of the Azores has secured the purchase of the land for the future Ribeira Grande Health Centre, an investment of over 20 million euros and a long-standing demand from the population.

“The Regional Government of the Azores, through the Regional Secretariat for Health and Social Security, has secured, through the signing of a promissory contract, the purchase of the land where the new Ribeira Grande Health Centre will be built, in São Miguel”, said the regional executive.

Bilingual Schools Program in the Azores starts next school year

The Government of the Azores will move forward next school year with training teachers for the Bilingual Schools in English program, which will be implemented in the 2025/2026 school year.

The regional secretary for Education, Culture and Sport, Sofia Ribeiro, explained that the program, which is “voluntarily adopted by schools, will be implemented as a pedagogical experiment, and is aimed at the 1st cycle of basic education in the public and private networks of the regional education system”.

The project “has as its general principle the teaching of 30% of students’ weekly workload in English, covering English, Environmental Studies, Art Education and Physical Education”, said Sofia Ribeiro.

The program has the collaboration of the British Council and has its origins in the Bilingual Schools in English program, of the Ministry of Education.

 

 

Azores Situation Report 3rd July 2024

 

By our correspondent from the Azores

Road accident in Ribeira Grande leaves three dead and one injured

A traffic accident that occurred on the expressway between Lomba da Maia and Ribeira Funda, in the early hours of Sunday to Monday, caused three fatalities.

According to the Public Security Police, the accident involved two vehicles and four people. One of the cars had only one passenger, while the other had three.

One of the vehicles was heading northeast to Ponta Delgada and the other from Ponta Delgada to the northeast, and they collided head-on after one of the vehicles left its lane.

The collision immediately resulted in the death of the drivers, as well as the front passenger of the vehicle, which was carrying three people, with only the passenger in the back seat surviving.  The accident occurred at 11 pm on Sunday.

Two extrication vehicles were at the scene, given the circumstances of the collision between the vehicles, as well as five emergency ambulances, two of them from the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters and one vehicle from the Azores Regional Command.

Five earthquakes with magnitudes between 1.6 and 3.0 on the Richter scale felt in Terceira

Five earthquakes with magnitudes between 1.6 and 3.0 on the Richter scale were felt today in Terceira, as part of the ongoing seismo-volcaeic crisis on the island, authorities announced.

According to the Azores Seismo-volcaeic Surveillance and Information Centre (CIVISA), the tremors were recorded at 01:50 local time (02:50 in Lisbon), at 06:41 local time (07:41 in Lisbon) and at 07:03 local time (08:03 in Lisbon).

The first earthquake, recorded at 01:50 local time, had a magnitude of 1.6 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was approximately four kilometres northeast of Santa Bárbara. It was felt with a maximum intensity of III (Modified Mercalli scale) in Santa Bárbara and Doze Ribeiras (Angra do Heroísmo).

At 06:41 local time, three earthquakes were recorded on Terceira Island.

The next event had a magnitude of 3.0 on the Richter scale and an epicentre about five kilometres east-southeast of Serreta. The second had a magnitude of 2.7 and was located five kilometres northeast of Santa Bárbara, while the third, with a magnitude of 2.9, had an epicentre three kilometres north-northeast of Santa Bárbara.

“According to the information available to date, the earthquakes were felt with maximum intensity IV/V (Modified Mercalli scale) in Serreta, Raminho, Altares Doze Ribeiras, Santa Bárbara, Cinco Ribeiras, São Bartolomeu (municipality of Angra do Heroísmo) and Biscoitos (municipality of Praia da Vitória)”, CIVISA added.

The events were also felt with intensity IV in S. Mateus da Calheta, Terra Chã, Posto Santo, Santa Luzia, S. Pedro, Sé, Conceição, Santa Luzia, Ribeirinha (Angra do Heroísmo), Quatro Ribeiras and Agualva (Vitória Beach), and intensity III in Vila das Lajes (Vitória Beach).

The fifth earthquake on Terceira Island, recorded at 7:03 am local time, had a magnitude of 2.0 and an epicentre approximately four kilometres northeast of Santa Bárbara.

CIVISA reported that this tremor was felt with maximum intensity III in Santa Bárbara (Angra do Heroísmo).

The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) also issued a statement on the earthquake registered at 06:41 local time, giving it a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter scale and an epicentre approximately four kilometres east-southeast of Serreta.

“According to the available information, this earthquake was felt, and a new statement with updated instrumental and macro seismic information should be issued soon,” he added.

The events are part of the ongoing seismic-volcanic crisis on Terceira Island since June 2022.

On Thursday, due to seismic activity on the island, CIVISA raised the alert level for the Santa Bárbara volcano to V3 and that of the island’s fissure volcanic system to V1.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Azores Situation Report Wednesday 26th June 2024

 

By our correspondent in the Azores

Fire brigades that helped fight the fire at HDES will be decorated

Praceta do Açor Arena, in Vila Franca do Campo, will host next Saturday, at 2:30 pm, the Portuguese Firefighters League Ceremony, organized by the Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Vila Franca do Campo, with the support of the Azores Firefighters Federation.

This ceremony will include the imposition of decorations to thank the five voluntary firefighters associations of São Miguel for their performance in fighting the fire that broke out on May 4th at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada.

The ceremony will be presided over by the Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Action, Alonso Miguel, who oversees the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA). The event will also be attended by the president of the Municipal Council of Vila Franca do Campo, Ricardo Rodrigues, the president of the League of Portuguese Firefighters, António Nunes, the president of the SRPCBA, Rui Andrade, and the president of the Azores Firefighters Federation, Braia Ferreira. The event will also be attended by the presidents of the firefighters associations of Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande, Vila Franca do Campo, Povoação, Nordeste and commanders of the respective bodies, in addition to the president of the League’s Congress Table, Luís Barreiros, and the Secretary of the League, Joaquim Mitra.  The fire that broke out at HDES, on May 4th and forced the transfer of all patients who were admitted to this health unit. At the time, 333 patients were at HDES, and it was necessary to transfer 240. The most critical and serious patients were transferred to the CUF hospital, in the city of Lagoa, and the rest to health centres.

At this moment, the Ponta Delgada hospital is resuming its activity in a phased manner, and it is certain that the Regional Government intends for the modular hospital, within the HDES area (in the heliport area), to begin operating in the month of August, in an investment valued at around 10 million euros.

PJ arrests young man with 16 kilos of drugs on Terceira Island

A 19-year-old young man was detained by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on the island of Terceira, in the Azores, in possession of more than 16 kilos of drugs and was awaiting trial in pre-trial detention, it was revealed today.

According to the Criminal Investigation Department of the PJ of the Azores, the young man was arrested in flagrante delicto, due to “strong indications” of the crime of drug trafficking.

The source said in a statement that, at the time of his arrest, the suspect was in possession of “more than 16 kg of drugs, a quantity sufficient to prepare around 32,500 individual doses of hashish”.

The detainee was present at the first judicial interrogation and was subject to the coercion measure of preventive detention, indicated the PJ.

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Azores Situation Report Wednesday 19th June 2024

Recorded increase in the number of hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19

Regional Health Director says there was a “slight increase” in the number of hospitalizations, especially in São Miguel

The number of hospitalizations of patients with Covid-19 has increased in recent months on the island of São Miguel.

“Reporting to an analysis of the last three, four months, there has been an increase in hospitalizations today, but it will be properly monitored, and subject to constant analysis and monitoring”, confirmed the regional director of Health, Pedro Paes.

“We are unable to determine the reason for this slight increase”, said the official, although it is true that this “is a time of festivities, a time of greater mobility of people, given summer tourism”.

Yesterday, at the Ribeira Grande Health Centre alone, 10 patients were hospitalized with Covid-19 (half of the total number of patients hospitalized with the disease in the Region), with one still at CUF and four at Casa de Saúde Nossa Senhora da Conceição, which plus another three at Hospital da Horta and two at Hospital da Ilha Terceira.

The regional director of Health explained that some of these admissions are from a population that already resides in the institution, such as Casa de Saúde de São Miguel. And, on the other hand, there is no data “on the increase in mortality or severity of the disease itself”.

“What we can guarantee is that professionals are working with all safety conditions, and hospitalized users have safety conditions, whether those hospitalized with active Covid-19 infection or other hospitalized users”, he highlighted the person responsible, explaining that safety is guaranteed through individual protection and transmission prevention measures.

The regional director of Health calls on the population to adopt individual protection measures, already known to everyone, so that Covid-19 disease infection can be contained, namely measures such as cleaning and disinfecting hands, taking care of roads airways, and if you are sick, avoid closed areas with crowds of people.

Glex Summit brings together 120 explorers in the “natural laboratory” of the Azores

The Glex Exploration Summit brings together around 120 international explorers and scientists on the island of Terceira, in the Azores, with the archipelago considered a “natural laboratory for the production of knowledge” and a possible location for an underwater research station.

“The Azores are a natural laboratory for the production of knowledge and science and this mix between science, makers and technology that allows one party to help the other is what Glex is”, stated Manuel Vaz, founder of Expanding World, which organizes the summit, in statements on the sidelines of the opening session of the Glex Summit, which runs until Wednesday in Angra do Heroísmo.

The fifth edition of the summit organized by Expanding World, curated by The Explorers Club, from New York, takes place for the third consecutive year in the Azores and for the second on the island of Terceira.

“We are in the most obvious place on planet Earth to be holding a summit where all areas feel at home, from the oceans to volcanology and space. This is the perfect place where the old world and the new world meet”, he highlighted.

In the 2023 edition, the first lunar simulation mission in Portugal was announced, which took seven “astronauts” from various countries to Gruta do Natal, on the island of Terceira, where they stayed for six nights and seven days.

According to the organizer, the opening of the meeting with a speech by aquanaut and ocean conservationist Fabien Cousteau, promoter of the Proteus project, which aims to create underwater research stations, is “a clear sign of future cooperation”.

“If there are space stations, why are there no stations underwater?”, he asked, arguing that “there are certainly conditions to implement the project in the Azores.

Asked on the sidelines of the event about the potential of the archipelago for the installation of a future underwater station, Fabien Cousteau simply said that “the Azores have the potential for many things”, but admitted that the North Atlantic is one of the locations in view in the Proteus project. .

“The Atlantic Ocean is of primary importance. The Proteus project is not for a single habitat. We started with the idea of ​​one, but the demand and interest is to have several ‘habitats’ strategically placed in different parts of the world, of course the North Atlantic being one of those places”, he added.

The aquanaut expects to install the first underwater scientific research station in Curaçao, in the Caribbean, at the end of 2026.

“We can take the laboratory to the bottom of the sea, instead of bringing samples to the surface. Thus, the samples are not corrupted, information can be generated immediately and all this to create innovations, new approaches, new ways of thinking and understanding what is happening in a place we know nothing about”, he highlighted.

Among this edition’s guest speakers are names such as entomologist Sammy Ramsey, biologist Martina Capriotti, volcanologist Jess Phoenix, conservationist Morad Tahbaz, cultural activist Ihor Poshyvailo and peace activist Aziz Abu Sarah.

Also participating are aerospace engineer Sabrina Thompson, polar researcher Kirstin Schulz, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann, and INESC-TEC researcher Ana Pires, who was commander of the Camões mission, in Gruta do Natal.