Portugal Safety and Security Report Wednesday 4th March 2026
The Special Device to Fight Rural Fires (DECIR) 2026 was announced yesterday and strengthens the national response capacity in the critical period (July 1 to September 30). 15,149 operatives, 3,463 vehicles, 2,596 teams and 81 aircraft will be engaged, consolidating the structural reinforcement of the last decade. In 2016 the operatives in this phase stood at 7,475, vehicles 1601 and aircraft 47; thus representing a considerable increase.
The Permanent Intervention Teams grow to 770 teams and 3,864 elements, accompanied by an ongoing investment in operational training and qualification. These teams are usually the first to be deployed in rural fires
However, we note a report on Monday that more than a third of the 278 municipalities on the mainland have outdated emergency plans. According to data obtained by JN, there are more than 100 Municipal Civil Protection Emergency Plans (PMEPC) that should have already been revised, and about fifteen are not even included in the Emergency Planning Information System (SIPE) implemented by the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC). With serious accidents and catastrophes, such as those resulting from the recent train of storms that hit the territory, being inevitable, experts argue that only with updated and trained plans is it possible to minimize the consequences of bad weather.
The 1st March was Civil Protection day and a time to remember the destructive power of earthquakes and be aware of the risk they pose in Portugal. On February 28, 1969 Portugal was affected by an earthquake which was felt throughout the country, northern Morocco and part of Spain. The magnitude of the earthquake was 7.3 on the Richter scale. However it was later recalculated at Mag 7.9 making it the largest earthquake recorded in Portugal since the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The south, namely the Algarve, and the Lisbon region were the areas most affected by earthquake, which was also felt in Spain and Morocco. Thirteen people died, two as a direct result of the quake and 11 indirectly and several dozen were injured.
Civil Protection reminds every one of the importance of knowing self-protection measures: know how to act during an earthquake (DROP, COVER, HOLD); identify safe places at home and in the workplace; prepare an emergency kit and follow the official information.
Turn to dust. Due to storm Regina an air mass originating from the deserts of North Africa, carrying suspended dust, is crossing mainland Portugal between March 3rd and 5th, 2026. Poor air quality is being experienced across parts of the mainland. Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) stated that “a large-scale aerosol outflow into the North Atlantic is not uncommon at this time of year, with seasonal biomass burning in Equatorial Africa typically peaking between January and March.
Therefore, and for as long as this phenomenon persists, the Directorate-General of Health recommends that the general population should avoid prolonged exertion, limit outdoor physical activity, and avoid exposure to risk factors such as tobacco smoke and contact with irritants.
The following groups of citizens, due to their greater vulnerability to the effects of this phenomenon, in addition to complying with the recommendations for the general population, should, whenever feasible, remain inside buildings and, preferably, with the windows closed: children; the elderly; patients with chronic respiratory problems, particularly asthma; patients with cardiovascular disease. Patients with chronic conditions should continue with their current medical treatments.
Our team at Safe Communities wishes you a safe week ahead.
News
Environment Minister considers intervention on cliffs “super urgent” after storms.
The Algarve has been identified as the region with the most problems, including fissures in the iconic rock formation at Peneco beach. The government strategy is divided into three areas: cliff safety, beach restoration, and medium-term structural projects, with the aim of completing urgent works before the bathing season.
The Minister of the Environment stated on Tuesday in Albufeira that stabilizing the cliffs is a “super urgent” priority for the Government to ensure coastal safety, following the worsening erosion caused by recent storms.
“The intervention on the cliffs is one of the ‘necessary and extremely urgent projects to guarantee the safety of those who visit the beaches, this being the most urgent part’,” Maria da Graça Carvalho told journalists on the sidelines of a visit to beaches in the municipality of Albufeira, in the district of Faro.
The minister visited Maria Luísa and Peneco beaches in Albufeira to assess the damage caused by the storms that affected mainland Portugal between the end of January and the first weeks of February, revealing that the damage extends from Moledo, in the municipality of Caminha, district of Viana do Castelo, to Vila Real de Santo António, in the district of Faro.
However, he added, the Algarve is the region where “there are more problems with the cliffs and the most complicated cases,” resulting from the sea storms, rain, and strong winds that have plagued the country in recent weeks.
Maria da Graça Carvalho revealed that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) is concluding an inspection of the entire coastline, with the conclusions and necessary projects to be presented “in eight days” by the APA in Porto.
During the visit, the minister listened to the concerns of the Mayor of Albufeira, Rui Cristina, regarding the intervention “to save the rock formation on the beach that gives its name to Peneco beach, where fissures have been detected.”
According to the mayor, the rock “represents a danger and could collapse at any moment ,” and a safety perimeter has been established to prevent people from approaching.
“It’s something very symbolic, an emblematic rock that represents Albufeira. We will do everything to preserve it,” he assured, referring, however, to the APA (Portuguese Environment Agency) and the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) “a technical or constructive solution to safeguard it in the best way.”
The minister will ask for help from LNEC.
The Minister of the Environment indicated that she will ask the LNEC (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering) for help in “supporting a decision” on what to do regarding the rock formation, reinforcing that these complex interventions aim to “guarantee the safety” of those who visit the beaches.
Maria da Graça Carvalho also mentioned that the Ministry of the Environment’s strategy is divided into three areas of intervention on the coastline, with different degrees of urgency: cliff safety, beach restoration through sand replenishment, and medium-term projects that require environmental impact studies.
Short-term projects include those related to preparing for the bathing season, such as stabilizing cliffs, small and medium-sized beach replenishment with sand, and repairing walkways.
“The goal is for these works to be completed before the start of the bathing season, using quick and flexible financing,” the official added.
The structural projects foresee larger-scale interventions, which require environmental impact studies, and are expected to be ready only for the bathing season next year.
“We have to do it, and it has to be done well,” the minister reiterated, noting that although the Algarve presents the most complicated problems regarding the cliffs, the APA’s monitoring “is continuous and systematic throughout the national territory.”
According to the minister, work to reinforce the sand on some of the “most emblematic beaches in the country” should begin between May and the beginning of June.
25 years since the Entre-os-Rios tragedy: a reflection on the “ambiguous grief” of the families of 36 victims.
Sandra Torres, a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Porto, reflects on the difficulties of the grieving process in tragedies such as the collapse of the Entre-os-Rios Bridge in which the bodies of 36 victims were never found.
The fact that only 23 bodies have been recovered out of the 59 victims of the Hintze Ribeiro bridge collapse tragedy in Entre-os-Rios 25 years ago has led many family members to experience “ambiguous grief,” says an expert on the subject.
“In psychology, this type of grief, in which people are physically absent but, fundamentally, psychologically present, is called ambiguous grief. This is precisely to, in some way, expose the difficulty in balancing a grieving process alongside a cycle of maintaining hope that often occurs in these processes. One of the great difficulties associated with this type of grief, I would say, is the great absence of farewell,” Sandra Torres explains to Lusa.
A lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto (FPCEUP), responsible for several curricular units on grief, reflects on the 36 victims who did not have a funeral because their bodies were not found, following the tragedy of March 4, 2001, in which 59 people died when the fourth pillar of the Hintze Ribeiro bridge collapsed.
The importance of saying goodbye.
“Funerals often serve this function. Even if they have been symbolically performed, there is no possibility for people to have gone through a farewell process that, in their minds, only happens when the body is actually present. And therefore, however much there may have been public acknowledgment of this loss, this more physical farewell can never be carried out by these people. And this is what, in a way, brings about this situation of ambiguity that often prevents the acceptance and emotional reorganization that is required in a grieving process,” he explains.
For some, this ambiguity manifests itself with “persistent rumination” of the process, for others with “continuous mental searching,” with “what ifs, what ifs,” a ‘pain’ that comes from balancing hope and rationality, an expressive pain that can lead to “other emotions that are often strong, intense, and difficult, in which the most predominant tend to be guilt and/or anger.”
“From the point of view of anger, it can often be directed towards others. When we look at blame, we look more at an internal dimension, when we look at anger we often look at it from an external direction, and here it can be directed towards the political and administrative responsibilities that existed in the maintenance of the infrastructure, or even the fact that the authorities did not do everything they could to find the bodies…”, she exemplifies, as “possible thoughts” associated with it.
The consequence ends up being “making the whole adjustment process more difficult,” which in turn causes “grief to remain very intense over the years ,” with the weight of society potentially making people feel “isolated and misunderstood,” as people are expected to move on.
“By hindering the entire adjustment process, grief remains very intense over the years. (…) And often there are some processes here that may not be conscious, even in the face of society: ‘if I go through this grieving process, I will be saying that in some way I have accepted this, I have resigned myself, and deep down what I want is to keep the person alive’,” adds the specialist.
Each person’s reactions “can be very diverse.”
Since grief is a “deeply individual” process, each person’s reactions “can be very diverse,” and in circumstances like the tragedy in Entre-os-Rios, “with all this media attention involved,” there are people for whom the memory brings back old wounds, but for others it is a sign of homage, “a way of keeping alive the people who were lost.”
“Maintaining a connection with the person who was lost today is seen as an adaptive process, and this can manifest itself either in valuing memories, in talking to people in thought, or in experiences that honour their legacy. Therefore, these bonds can provide comfort and meaning, even if in many circumstances this means remembering and reliving the pain of the loss that happened 25 years ago,” she points out.
This adjustment to a new life, even more than two decades later, must be understood as a reconstruction “of the meaning of and the relationship with the person who was lost.”
“We often say that people don’t abandon the past, they change their relationship with it; that’s what’s intended in a grieving process. But often this is what people feel: ‘If I don’t show that I continue to suffer, if I don’t show that I continue to deprive myself of everything that is joyful, I have no way of showing others that this person continues to be very important to me,'” says Sandra Torres.
Social support, especially in the case of a “violent and traumatic loss, clearly unexpected,” takes on a highly relevant role in these processes, as does the understanding that diversity is the touchstone for breaking a “myth that is created in society: grief is not a linear process,” and it is not a rule that it becomes easier with the passing of years.
“What’s important is that these moments focused on loss also alternate with moments when people begin to take on tasks, often those that the missing person used to do, adjust to new social roles and routines, manage to resolve practical day-to-day issues, and even, in some way, reassess their own identity and their own sense of purpose in life. And it is in this alternation and between these moments that people move forward,” advises Sandra Torres.
“Grief is simply love that has nowhere to go,” she adds.
