New Emergency Plan for the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands have a new protection plan, published yesterday, the Plan Específico de Protección Civil y Atención de Emergencias por Riesgos de Fenómenos Meteorológicos Adversos (PEFMA) - Specific Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Attention for Adverse Meteorological Phenomenon Risks - which will enable the authorities to respond more rapidly, coordinated and efficiently to adverse weather situations, such as Tropical Storm / Extratropical Cyclone Delta, high winds, torrential rains, snow, etc.

There are four basic levels of alert: green, yellow, orange and red. Green level means there is no meteorological risk present; yellow activates a pre-alert condition and, while no risk exists for the general population, some risk exists for certain activities. Only from orange level will the population be advised and a full alert activated. The forth and ultimate level, red, is reserved for maximum alert in exceptional circumstances and non-habitual weather conditions.

This plan provides the answer to "The boy who cried wolf" syndrome: recent criticism that one of the reasons why the severity of the tropical storm was not taken fully into account was that it came after too many other alerts.

Canarias tiene nuevo Plan de Protección Civil y Atención de Emergencias por Fenómenos Meteorológicos Adversos