The Civil Protection Association APROSOC holds the Chamber of Seixal and the parish of Fernão Ferro responsible for the deaths of two elderly people, on Thursday, in the floods in the municipality, arguing that they should be judged “for gross omissions”.
APROSOC states, in a note, that it is convinced that “the recent death of two elderly people inside their home, during floods in the parish of Fernão Ferro, municipality of Seixal, is mainly responsible for the municipal executive of Seixal and the parish council of Fernão Ferro”.
The association accused the two local authorities of “inertia and ineptitude” within the scope of their responsibilities “within the scope of territorial planning that made possible the existence of that dwelling in a situation of risk, apparently without geotechnical and hydrological assessment“.
Among the municipal competencies that it considered had not been fulfilled are also those of preventing the municipality’s collective risks, permanent analysis of municipal vulnerabilities in the face of risk situations and study and dissemination of appropriate forms of protection of buildings in general and natural resources existing in the municipality.
The association also considers that the municipal executive exempted itself from its duties in the areas of public awareness and information among residents about preventive measures and self-protection conduct, as well as disseminating, in the imminence or occurrence of serious accidents or catastrophes, the guidelines and procedures to be followed by the population to deal with the situation.
“With the passive connivance of the municipal executive”, according to APROSOC, the parish council of Fernão Ferro also “exempted itself from its duties” of collaborating with the Municipal Civil Protection Service (SMPC) in actions to prevent and assess risks and vulnerabilities in its geographical area.
“Consider this civil society organization that These factors were, in our conviction, decisive for the death of these two of our fellow citizens, therefore, in the civic defense of the public interest, it is understood that such gross omissions must be subject to criminal proceedings, under penalty of perpetuating these practices in this and other authorities“, defended the association.
APROSOC also considered that “civil protection volunteering in the municipality of Seixal is disorganized, insufficient, innocuous, unprofitable, fallacious and illusory for the population”.
Elderly home flooded
One couple, over 80 years old, died on Thursday in Pinhal de General, in the parish of Fernão Ferroafter the house was flooded due to heavy rain that fell during the morning.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the Mayor of Seixal said that the housing, built in an Urban Area of Illegal Genesis (AUGI), “clandestinely, without any municipal licensing”is next to a water line, and the process of building infrastructure and regularizing the water lines is underway.
The Pinhal do General AUGI, he explained, is the largest in the municipality of Seixal and one of the largest in the country, with three thousand lots, with the area identified in the risk cartography.
On Thursday, the Setúbal district was on red alert due to the Cláudia depression, which has affected the mainland and Madeira, with intense precipitation, accompanied by thunderstorms and hail.
Heavy rains also caused other incidents that day in various areas of the municipality of Seixal, namely falling trees, flooding in homes and public roads and the cutting of National Road 378.
