SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, January 25. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Miranda, delivered this Thursday 1,900 ‘OneUp’ self-inflation devices to the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam), in the hands of its president, and mayor of Candelaria, Mari Brito, and which will be distributed by the Emergency and Rescue Group (GES) of the regional government during the coming weeks to the 77 municipalities of the archipelago that have bathing areas on their coastline.
“The Government intends to reinforce safety on the Canary Islands beaches with this innovative equipment, especially in those areas that do not have a lifeguard service, providing the civil protection services and local police with equipment that can be decisive in saving lives in the first moments of an event,” explained Manuel Miranda.
According to the distribution agreed with Fecam, 654 of these self-inflating life preservers will be destined for municipalities in Tenerife, 418 for Gran Canaria, 167 for towns in La Palma, 82 for La Gomera, 36 for the three municipalities of El Hierro, 189 for Fuerteventura. and 354 to towns in Lanzarote, includes a note from the Ministry.
This action will be complemented with a new emergency equipment program financed with Feder funds and which will begin this year, to equip the more than 750 bathing areas of the islands with some 2,000 lifeguard ‘totems’, autonomous columns that, in addition to contain self-inflating devices inside, they automatically alert the 112 coordination room in the event of an incident at sea with bathers.
CANARY TECHNOLOGY
The ‘OneUp’ device is an element created and patented by a 100% Canarian company.
Thus, it inflates automatically when it comes into contact with water and its mechanism is easy to use, in addition to having a weight of 390 grams, a length of 18 centimeters, with a 25-meter orange floating rope, two carabiners for its hitch, reflective stickers and a waterproof cover, so its practicality and easy handling can make it decisive when it comes to saving lives on the coasts of the archipelago.
For some months now, the General Directorate of Emergencies, with the help of specialist instructors in this type of rescue and first-aid devices, have carried out training sessions for local police and Civil Protection personnel on the different islands, with the objective of teaching those responsible for security and emergencies of the different municipalities the procedure that must be followed to use the self-inflating life preserver as quickly and effectively as possible in the event of a possible drowning.
The device is launched into the water to help the person in distress, and can be used in different scenarios: beaches, breakers, cliffs, docks, ponds or dams, high seas or ravine torrents, and launched from the shore, helicopter, any type of vessel and even from drones, and can have various uses.
The counselor recalled that the Government has several actions underway to improve security in the bathing areas of the islands.
60 DIED LAST YEAR
During last year 2023, according to data from the General Directorate of Emergencies, a total of 60 people died on beaches and bathing areas in the Canary Islands, while in all of 2022, 65 people lost their lives in accidents on the coast.
The Ministry of Territorial Policy, Territorial Cohesion and Water has begun dialogue with Fecam, groups and agents involved in the coast of the islands to draft new regulations that regulate safety on the beaches of the archipelago.
The Government has opted to give a boost to communication and information, with the launch of web applications, and in addition the Emergency Department has begun to communicate pre-alerts, so that citizens adopt self-protection and prevention measures, for example in the case of coastal phenomena.
The General Directorate of Emergencies has begun training for schoolchildren on the islands, and the progressive installation of ‘totems’, up to a total of 2,000 on the coast and 1,000 in rural environments, to have elements perfectly connected to the emergency systems and shorten response times to eventualities in our territory.
