QLoulé, one of the most vulnerable areas on the Portuguese coast, is now better prepared for a tsunami scenario. This morning, near the beach, the Loulé City Council presented a plan for signage along evacuation routes to address tsunami risks in this parish, as well as a plan to raise public awareness in this regard.
This is a project developed by the Municipality, through its Municipal Civil Protection Service, in partnership with the team coordinated by Professor Carlos Oliveira, from the Instituto Superior Técnico, who collaborated in carrying out the preliminary study and all the monitoring of the work.
It was a "network effort," as Loulé Civil Protection coordinator João Matos Lima explained, considering the involvement of the Quarteira Parish Council, Vilamoura Marina, the Maritime Authority, and the GNR (National Republican Guard). "Civil Protection must be understood as an activity that shares resources, responsibilities, and knowledge."
In addition to the 140 evacuation route signs now spread throughout Quarteira/Vilamoura, 13 meeting points were created outside the flood-prone area, considered safe places because they are located in higher areas, such as the Church of S. Pedro do Mar, the Drª Francisca de Aragão and Drª Laura Ayres Schools, or Avenida Papa Francisco.
The plan also involved 6 sound warning posts, which would be heard in the event of an alert.
Distances were displayed on the signage, and a map of these distances was created, so that, in the event of an evacuation, people would have no doubts and could reach the meeting point as quickly as possible. "We tried to place only the necessary signs, so there would be no confusion," emphasized technician Fernando Leandro.
However, escape routes are not always the shortest, but rather the safest, as they take into account the vulnerability of the building.
As Tatiana Neves, from the Loulé Civil Protection Service, explained, these works were carried out “based on our worst-case scenario, which would be a 15-meter wave, taking as a reference what happened in 1755.”
This plan took into account seasonality issues and the number of people who are on the beach during the summer.
