Brava Island in contingency and alert situation for four months
The Minister of Internal Administration, Paulo Rocha, said today that due to the scale of alert level three, a contingency and alert situation was declared for Brava Island for a period of four months that can be extended.
Paulo Rocha, who was speaking to the press after meeting with the Civil Protection and Fire Service, at the National Operations and Emergency Center of the National Civil Protection and Fire Services, in Achada Grande (Praia), also announced a visit to Brava Island next week.
“Today, we were discussing the measures for the coming days, which will involve convening the National Civil Protection Council, which includes several other entities, to further define the system of coordination and preparation for response,” he added, remembering that being forewarned and Caution is always good, but he stressed that “there is no reason for major concern”.
He explained in his communication that the National Institute of Geophysical Metrology (ING) has stated that there is no reason for alarm and that, at this moment, the chances of a volcanic eruption are low.
The government official also pointed out the need to be careful due to the fact that the alert level is three on a scale of one to five, highlighting the importance of the Civil Protection and Fire Service always acting in prevention and as a precaution.
In view of this precaution, Paulo Rocha said that the National Civil Protection and Fire Service has been present since October 31st on the island of Flores, carrying out reports and raising awareness and providing information to the population.
“The SNPCB has been present with information and awareness-raising activities, together with local authorities and communities. He visited several locations, namely the most sensitive and considered to be at greatest risk, having carried out a survey of all the buildings that suffered impacts from the earthquake on the 20th”, he said, highlighting that around 20 buildings suffered different levels of severity.
As part of the actions carried out on the island, he mentioned awareness raising and information taking place in schools, with religious entities, in kindergartens, aiming to provide the necessary tranquility and explaining to people about the current reality, without ever causing panic, but ensuring that people are alert to take any measures, if necessary.
In addition to these, he mentioned the existence of a contingency and evacuation plan for Brava Island, drawn up in 2016, following the seismic crisis recorded at the time.
The plan, which claims to be updated, foresees, according to the Minister of Internal Administration, a set of actions for gender situations, actions that, he recalled, are currently being implemented.
At this time, it confirmed the activation of the entire national civil protection system through a decision by the Council of Ministers, due to the continence situation declared for Brava Island.
A meeting of the Civil Protection Council is scheduled for next week with a view to taking preparedness actions to monitor the contingency declaration and alert if necessary.
