RETROSPECTIVE/Brava: Island was marked by natural events that revealed local weaknesses

The year was full of upheavals, starting with the collapse of the Fajã d´Água road, which left the area completely isolated at the beginning of January, with a pedestrian road being built, but the resumption of automobile connections only occurred two months after the collapse, despite several complaints from the community to speed up this process.

However, even with the interventions, the landslides continued and in September, during the last landslide, the president of Brava City Council, Francisco Tavares, reported, in an interview with Inforpress, that the company Estradas de Cabo Verde had ongoing study of opening a new path from the road that connects Esparadinha/Fajã d'Água/Palhal.

The wave of natural events continued and at the beginning of September the island suffered from a drop in rain, which resulted in several locations being flooded.

At the end of the month, the Government declared a state of calamity, due to the consequences of heavy rains.

After these situations, the Brava community was surprised at the end of October with an earthquake measuring 4 to 4.5 on the Richter scale, an event that shook the entire community, as this situation continued for several days and the What the population complained about most was the lack of information from official and credible sources regarding the situation.

Faced with this scenario, a team from the National Civil Protection and Fire Service was sent to Brava Island, accompanied by other technicians to work on strengthening awareness-raising activities in schools, communities and local authorities, and a visit from the Minister of Internal Administration, Paulo Rocha, to find out about the situation.

The Social area was also marked by cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), aggression and cases of sexual rape of children, with some awareness-raising activities carried out by the various entities and forces in society in order to combat and minimize these situations, but also about parental responsibility.

In the areas of Health and Cooperation, Brava Island received a medical mission from the “Project Health for Cape Verde” (PHCV), saw the creation of its Blood Transfusion post, a screening campaign for breast, uterine and prostate cancer promoted in partnership with the Cape Verdean Association for the Fight Against Cancer, blood donation campaigns, health fairs in various locations, among other actions.

In the Cultural chapter, the island stood out in the June festivities, various activities linked to the Sete Sóis Sete Luas Festival and the musical spectacle as part of the 10th edition of Morna Fest.

In the area of the Environment, the island stood out with the projects carried out by the Biflores Association, in terms of raising awareness of environmental preservation, endemic plants, among other species, deworming and castration campaigns for animals carried out by the Bons Amigos Association, and the involvement of schools in environmental awareness campaigns.

In the economic context, traders and tourist entrepreneurs continued to complain about the losses caused by the irregularity of connecting trips to and from Brava, the holding of the Agricultural and Innovations Fair-FAI'23 and the opening of the open-air fair.

In the Sports sector, several interventions were carried out on the island, holding tests in different modalities, among others.

The island was also marked by the visit of several government ministers.

Inforpress