He Safa Funcadia school has successfully carried out this Wednesday the first tsunami evacuation drill. An initiative promoted by the Huelva City Hall which is part of the different awareness-raising actions that are being carried out in the city within the framework of the Huelva Tsunami Plan, launched last November.
As highlighted by the mayor, Gabriel Cruz, who was present at the rehearsal, “it is about internalizing how we should behave and what we have to do from the moment an earthquake occurs until we reach a safe place.” And, in this sense, he has stated that “the importance of these drills, not to create alarm but to make things work well, internalizing our protection plan with a practical exercise like the one carried out to prevent other types of risk situations”.
Likewise, the mayor has valued the work of the members of the United Firefighters Without Borders, the Fire Fighting Service, the Local Police and Civil Protection in “taking care of us”, preparing citizens to act correctly in the case hypothetical that a tsunami.
For his part, the president of Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras, Antonio Nogales, has evaluated the result of the drill very satisfactorily, since the 1,500 schoolchildren who have participated in it and the rest of the educational community have managed to locate themselves in an area safely in 14 minutes, and in 21 minutes at the meeting point marked for the center, thus responding to the set times. And he has thanked the center’s management team for their involvement and work to make this achievement possible.
Nogales explained that the Safa Fundacia is a school located in sector 3 of the plans designed by the University of Huelva, an area likely to be flooded in the event of a tsunami and that its assigned meeting point is Parque Alonso Sanchez.
Prior to carrying out this exercise, a team of members of Bomberos Unidos Sin Fronteras and the Fire Fighting Service gave different information and awareness talks and workshops to the teaching team and students, with the purpose of making them aware of the adequate steps to carry out a correct evacuation of the center before a possible tsunami.
Likewise, for the development of the drill, a team of observers and security managers has been established, belonging to the Fire Department of the Hueva City Council, members of Civil Protection and members of the Local Police, in order to evaluate the development of a drill that It will be repeated in schools susceptible to flooding and in those who request it.
The Huelva City Council has enabled the web www.plantsunamihuelva.com and a linked app, which contains all the information that citizens need to find out how a tsunami can affect them, the three ways to know if it has occurred; and how to prepare your own action plan, including advice on building your ’emergency backpack’ and holding regular drills.
