The Minister of Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, announced at the inauguration of the day to address drought, Danas, and tsunami, organized by the Association of Builders and Developers of Seville (Galeco), that the Andalusian Emergency Agency (EMA) will have a risk analysis unit. Specifically, a Unit for the analysis and evaluation of impact against civil protection risk formed by professionals specialized in the analysis of different parameters. This will monitor the evolution of forest fires, floods, or any other incidents that may affect Andalusia.
The counselor explained that this body will consider more parameters when activating an alert, including old opinions (from the state meteorological agency), but also parameters such as topography, nearby population, other climatic conditions, nearby reservoirs, low seas or tides, state channels, among others.
In other words, this unit, whose seed is the current UTAF of Infoca (the technical unit for fire analysis), will anticipate technical reports to make decisions based on meteorological information and also on the geographical, sociological, maritime, and phenological information of Andalusia, as well as previous studies on vulnerability and population infrastructure.
«We are talking about the application of science to emergency management. We are talking about proactive emergency management, technical decisions based on scientific knowledge.
We are talking about operational efficiency adapted to the new sizes of risk derived from climate changes,» said the counselor, who added that today emergency response must be built «with more data and more analysis, and Andalusia has the capabilities and tools to do so.
«This specialized unit will be crucial because today we have to advance and evaluate all options before an emergency.» He emphasized.
The counselor also announced that the council has launched a working group to prepare a new category of flood zones with special risk that divides Andalusia not only into areas with potential risks but also into areas with different levels of danger. Therefore, regulatory changes will be made, so there is a legal obligation for risk evacuation cases, as in other countries like the United States.
New self-protection decree for the population
Furthermore, Antonio Sanz advanced that the board is already working on the development of a self-protection decree for people in managing an emergency, especially aimed at adults and children. Antonio Sanz emphasized that «a fundamental part of emergency management is to have a prepared, informed, and capable format to know that the response must be faced personally, to save lives and protect others.»
The counselor stressed the need to anticipate potential emergency situations for which the council was already a pioneer in preparing a Plan for tsamot risk emergency in Andalusia, of which the first plans against Maremotes in Cadiz are already prepared, to which others will be added for cities along the Andalusian coast.
The greatest challenge is to complete the planning at the local level, where escape routes and meeting points are considered.
Antonio Sanz emphasized that «There is no equivalent work on the continent on the issue of Tsamot as it was done in Andalusia, with the knowledge of our technicians and the support of the European Union.» In this sense, with the aim of informing the general population, the Board has already published both a tsunami and flood teaching guide.
Other examples where Andalusia was a pioneer are the territorial plan for civil protection emergencies, being the first community to adapt it to the new criteria established by the basic state regulations or the decree regulating the local civil protection system, essential for ensuring coordination, cohesion, and effectiveness of municipal civil protection policies, being the first autonomous community in Spain to develop it.
The counselor emphasized that due to the local civil protection system, local territorial plans (PTEL) were approved, so in Andalusia, 96.22% of the population lives in a municipality with a plan.
In this regard, he influenced the Development of the comprehensive plan for managing emergencies in Andalusia (PIGEA) for which the council allocated investments of 17 million euros, a single site where all information related to an emergency will be centralized, as well as the activation and implementation of the new digital emergency network of Andalusia (valla), with an investment of 27 million euros. «Today we can say that Andalusia has the largest digital network in Europe in its category, covering almost the entire territory,» said Antonio Sanz.
The council has also launched The alert system (reverse system) that is sent to mobile devices of citizens in danger, and this was activated during the two recent Danas suffered. They also work to create an emergency network to support professionals, extending the collaboration that already exists with the College of Psychologists to other professional associations (for roads, architects, engineers).
Furthermore, at the Board of Governors meeting on January 28, the creation of the Humanitarian Aid Commission was approved prior to an international emergency situation that will allow Andalusian resources to be available to other administrations in situations requiring urgent humanitarian action.
All these actions fall under the umbrella of Andalusian Emergency Security and Management Agency (EMA), which has a budget of 270 million euros by 2025 and whose main objective is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the response to civil protection and emergency risks that arise in Andalusia. EMA is the largest agency in Spain, with almost 5,000 troops and groups in a common management system for 112, for civil protection, in IESPA, the Andalusian emergency group (heavy); and in the Infoca operation.
The Andalusian government is also working on regulatory development so that EMA can coordinate in cases of serious emergencies for the 7,000 civil protection volunteers and 10,000 local police officers from the 505 bodies in Andalusia.
Antonio Sanz stressed that Andalusia is at the forefront of modernizing the emergency system and concluded that «in emergency situations there is no zero risk, so we prioritize the safety of Andalusians and work to anticipate.»