The president of the republic on Thursday said that while the current bad weather conditions are “a new reality”, it will be necessary to “find financial ways” to foresee similar situations, even if they are “highly abnormal”.
Speaking to journalists outside Casa Fernando Pessoa, in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was asked about the role local authorities should play with people affected by the weather.
in reply, the head of state said that these meteorological conditions are “a new reality”, despite the fact that there were “great tragedies” such as the 1967 floods in the Greater Lisbon region, but which occurred “at a time that is not the current one” .
“Nowadays people expect from government what is called objective responsibility, that is, even if they have no specific responsibility for what happens, there is support that serves, as is also said today, to alleviate the damage suffered.” he said.
Together with Lisbon Mayor Carlos Moedas, the head of state said that this is “a reality in which we are all learning”, citing situations such as the pandemic and also the current bad weather.
Marcelo emphasized that learning from these situations showed that “first you have to do the research, to know exactly what happened and under what conditions it happened, then you have to think about the frequency with which it happens, and then make schedules, in the long run. to cope with these situations”.
“What has been done is that there are actions from time to time for what is most urgent, but what will probably be needed is finding financial ways to provide for situations like this, even if they are of a very abnormal event. are,” he defended.
Asked if he believed there was a lack of cooperation between Civil Protection and the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) at the time of last night’s warning, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he “didn’t want to go into these details”.
“I don’t know exactly what happened and there will have to be someone who will analyze what happened. Probably if this happens – and I hope it doesn’t happen with the seriousness with which it happened yesterday.” [quarta-feira] – this will be monitored, prevented and lessons will be learned,” he said.
The head of state also added that at the moment there are several entities that “need to intervene”, listing “the municipal structures at all levels – parishes, municipalities -, the firefighters who are from the Civil Protection, but within the Civil Protection”. protection, have a specific role”, as well as the “many aspects” and “dimensions” of civil protection.
“I think everyone is very alert to what could happen, and let’s hope nothing happens that resembles what happened,” he underlined.
When asked if he thinks Wednesday night’s orange alert was issued too late, Marcelo says he still doesn’t want to “make value judgments” because the bad weather situation is still ongoing.
“Unfortunately, the forecasts for today and the next few days are still a lot of rain – and this night in particular – and so at the moment (…) [quero] draw everyone’s attention, here in Lisbon to the Lisbon people, but in other parts of the country where a lot of rain is expected, to take precautions,” he underlined.
The president of the republic stressed that, if “the forecast of rain continues” in the coming days, the weekend “will require people’s attention, and people’s attention means that prevention is better than cure”.
When asked whether, given that an orange alert has been issued in the Lisbon district for tonight and the municipality has once again advised people to stay at home, does the president intend to go through the streets of Lisbon again as he did on Wednesday evening or “accept the suggestions” of the city council, Marcelo stressed that “the president must follow the suggestions and lead by example”.
“Which doesn’t mean that if there are very specific reasons that justify going into the field here or there, that happens. Yesterday [quarta-feira] it happened because I came from the outside and therefore went into the process wanting to know what was going on. I hope tonight has no reason to do that,” he said.
Source: DN
