The Governing Council has approved in its meeting on Monday the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Tsunami in Andalusia, the first to be prepared in national territory and which includes an “unprecedented and necessary” study so that municipalities can prepare their Local Action Plan, which will provide “greater security” to the Andalusian coast.
The plan that studies “building by building” the risk in the 62 municipalities of the almost thousand kilometers of coastline in the region with a large-scale cartography applied “for the first time in Spain.”
This was highlighted by the Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, at the press conference after the meeting of the Governing Council, which on this occasion was held on Monday, the day before than usual, and in which, regarding this initiative, he began by indicating that “possibly we will never experience an episode of this nature, hopefully so”, but he has defended that “only by being prepared for the worst can we be more secure”, and The Andalusian Executive has thus chosen to continue its “anticipation” strategy.
The counselor has detailed that the fundamental objective of the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Tsunami in Andalusia is the establishment of the organizational structure and action procedures for an adequate response to emergency situations caused by a tsunami that affects the coasts of Andalusia, taking into account that it is the community with the “greatest number of kilometers of coastline” in Spain, “almost 1,000”, and that it has “500 beaches in 62 municipalities”.
In this way, this plan seeks to “ensure greater efficiency and coordination in the intervention of the means and resources available, as well as establish the mechanisms to inform the population in the event of a tsunami alert.”
According to the head of the Interior, Andalusia has one of the highest tsunamis hazard rates in Spain, although these values ​​differ “substantially” on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, so it is “essential” to have a plan of these characteristics.
In addition, this risk in Andalusia can be considered “moderate” on a global scale, as specified by the counselor, who has defended that the plan approved this Monday is innovative and, in it, the Andalusian technicians have drawn up hazard maps by draft, drag of people or arrival time, in addition to a map of building vulnerability.
In this sense, the cartography that has been made building by building of the entire Andalusian coast from Ayamonte (Huelva) to San Juan de Terreros (AlmerÃa), constitutes the first large-scale application that is made at a national and international level of the index of relative vulnerability of buildings.
As detailed by the counselor, this work has been carried out by the Andalusian Emergency Group (GREA) with the collaboration of the ‘Copernicus’ program in collaboration with Indra and the University of Malaga.
The same study indicates that the provinces most affected by a tsunami would be Huelva and Cádiz, as well as the coastal zone defined between the Huelva municipality of Ayamonte and the Cádiz municipality of Tarifa, which includes a total of 22 municipalities; ten of them from the province of Huelva and twelve from the province of Cádiz.
At these points, the wave arrival times are approximately 45 to 60 minutes and, given the orography, the areas would be flooded for longer.
The Board has explained that tsunamis can also occur in the Mediterranean area, but with less intensity, with drafts that do not exceed five meters and, due to the orography, with less damage, although arrival times are shorter than in the Atlantic zone, oscillating between 20 and 30 minutes.
The document indicates eight general objectives, among which are classifying the coastal areas of Andalusia based on the danger of tsunamis; specify the organizational and functional structure for the intervention in emergencies due to tsunamis that take place within the Andalusian coast, and provide the mechanisms and procedures for coordination with the State Plan for Civil Protection against the Risk of Tsunamis to guarantee their adequate integration.
Also, establish guidelines for the preparation of action plans at the local level, as well as those related to the characteristics of the municipal alert reception centers for tsunamis and alert systems for the population, or catalog the specific means and resources available. of the planned actions.
In addition, “the importance of organizing the means and procedures that allow the timely receipt of tsunami warnings and their dissemination among the authorities of the administration of the autonomous community and the affected local entities; collaborating with local authorities in the foresight of the organization and the necessary means to alert the potentially affected population in collaboration with the social media, and to organize information programs for the population, which allows, through knowledge of the phenomenon, to adopt self-protection measures while receive the help of the operational means”.
In terms of notifications to the population, the Minister of the Presidency has indicated that Andalusia has a massive alert tool such as the ‘EsAlert’ system, or ‘112 reverse’, which allows sending directly to the mobile phones of the population of a given area not only a tsunami warning message, but also some of the measures to be taken to protect oneself.
With this new plan, coastal municipalities will be able to carry out their own local action plans in collaboration with the Junta, in addition to training operatives through the Institute of Emergencies and Public Security of Andalusia, according to Antonio Sanz.
