““The scenario is based on a volcanic eruption, and it is following this eruption that we trigger the entire response. Fourteen entities are involved in this exercise, about 100 operatives,” stated Rui Andrade, president of the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Firefighters Service (SPPCBA), to journalists.
In October 2024, Azores Civil Protection, in coordination with local authorities, conducted an evacuation drill of the parish of Cinco Ribeiras, in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island, in a volcanic eruption scenario.
At that time, the Santa Bárbara volcano had been on alert V3 for four months, on a scale from 0 to 6, indicating the confirmation of volcanic system reactivation, with signs of high activity.
About a hundred people heeded the authorities’ call and participated in the exercise.
In December, the volcano’s alert level dropped to V2 (possible system reactivation), and although seismic-volcanic activity remained above normal, people felt fewer earthquakes.
Today, at the scheduled time, just over two dozen people were waiting at the door of the Junta de Freguesia dos Biscoitos for the bus that would take them to Escola Francisco Ornelas da Câmara, Praia da Vitória, chosen as a concentration and support area for the population.
“It is normal that, with the situation more present in our daily lives, people are more sensitive and perhaps more willing to participate. The truth is that this condition is a permanent one for all of us. This susceptibility we have to volcanic and seismic phenomena is very significant and does not change over time,” noted Rui Andrade.
For the president of Azores Civil Protection, this exercise is crucial to test the seismic risk operation plan for the Santa Bárbara volcano, which is recent, but also to test the municipal, municipal, and regional plans and the coordination between different entities.
This time, instead of testing a preventive evacuation scenario, an evacuation while the eruption was occurring was simulated.
“This need to act immediately shortens our response time,” explained Rui Andrade.
On the other hand, he argued, the drill is an opportunity to “create literacy in the population about Civil Protection, raising awareness of risks, the need to be vigilant about appropriate behaviors and actions in such situations.”
“The population is a fundamental link in Civil Protection, and a more informed, more educated population means a more prepared population,” emphasized the official.
Paulo Figueiredo, a resident of the parish of Biscoitos, participated in the drill as an extra, playing the role of a bedridden person.
He admitted that during the most intense phase of the seismic crisis, the population was apprehensive about what might happen.
“The drill is very important for people to become informed. It’s a pity there aren’t more people,” he noted.
Although the seismic crisis has persisted since 2022, Paulo Figueiredo still doesn’t have a survival kit, but after attending the briefing session for this drill, he considered the possibility.
“I talked with my wife and said: we have to prepare a kit. Try to understand what is needed and gather what we can,” he revealed.
Inês Codorniz also hasn’t created a survival kit yet, but has thought about doing so.
Still vividly remembering the 1980 earthquake, which practically destroyed the island, she faces such natural catastrophes with fear.
“I am very afraid of everything, but mainly of this. I went into despair. I was pregnant. One month before my son was born. I was very frightened. I left my house and stayed in a cellar for a month,” she recalled.
With about 1,500 inhabitants, the parish of Biscoitos is the only one in the municipality of Praia da Vitória that lies in the area with the greatest susceptibility in a scenario of a Santa Bárbara volcano eruption.
The president of the parish council, Luís Vieira, noted that just this Sunday, an earthquake with an epicenter 5 km from the locality was felt.
“We are all afraid because we are in a land where earthquakes or a volcano could happen at any moment,” he stated.
Since 2018, the parish council began preparing a Civil Protection unit, which is now completed and equipped.
“We feel more equipped to assist the population in case of an emergency,” assumed Luís Vieira.
According to the mayor of Praia da Vitória, Vânia Ferreira, out of the 11 parishes and towns of the municipality, three already have a Civil Protection unit, and the municipality has been acquiring more catastrophe response equipment.
The drill allowed the municipality to test the municipal plan, “reviewed only a short time ago.”
“Being able to put into practice what is studied and prepared on paper is always different and, therefore, all the aftermath of this situation will be very important for us to understand if we still need to advance in any direction,” highlighted the mayor.
