Andorra la VellaCivil Protection is working on a system approved with European directives to send alerts to the population massively and in a short space of time, in the event of a non-ordinary emergency, which will allow the current system to be improved. This system is expected to be implemented next year. This is stated in a response from the Minister of Justice and Interior, Ester Molné to questions from the General Counselor of Concòrdia Maria Àngels Aché that were published this Wednesday in the General Council bulletin.
In this way, the minister formulated a series of questions about prevention measures in non-ordinary emergency situations and the minister answered, among other aspects, that next year a system should be in place for this mass warning to the population.
The head of Justice and Interior recalls that according to the civil protection law, in non-ordinary emergency situations all public and private media, those responsible for social networks and the rest of information systems for the population “are obliged to transmit free of charge the information, notices and instructions addressed to the population that are sent to them by the competent authorities in matters of civil protection”.
It also highlights that in recent years the Department of Civil Protection has concentrated efforts to analyze the needs of the population, identify different communication channels and strengthen the preventive procedures associated with the forecast of adverse weather phenomena that can predictably affect the territory or the usual activities of the population, “understanding that anticipation and preparation in these situations is a key phase”.
The councilor is also interested in the deployment of the law and in this sense asked about emergency plans. The minister replies that she does not yet have these plans, but remembers that “the deadline for approving them has not yet expired”. Thus, remember that the second final provision of the law establishes that the National Territorial Civil Protection Plan must be approved within a maximum period of three years from the entry into force of the law, which took place on August 4, 2024. The rest of the plans, he continues, must be approved within a maximum period of two years from the approval and publication of the National Territorial Civil Protection Plan.
Molné points out that despite not having the plans, there are technical documents that include preventive and operational procedures to guarantee the safety of the population in non-ordinary emergency situations. These documents, called action plans, protocols or campaigns, serve to identify the actors and their missions, the activation and deactivation criteria, the associated procedures and the organization of emergency services in the face of certain situations, and they focus their efforts on the initial analysis of the situation and on preventive procedures and information to the population in order to try to reduce the impact of the phenomena if they are confirmed, specifies the minister.