SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The General Directorate of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands, dependent on the Ministry of Public Administrations, Justice and Security, has requested the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge to incorporate a coordination and observation plane (ACO) for the monitoring and follow-up of volcanic activity on the island of La Palma.
As reported by the Ministry on Friday, this request is part of the agreements reached in the Directorate of the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Attention to Volcanic Risk Emergencies (PEVOLCA), in coordination with all the administrations involved.
The Minister of Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Julio Pérez, has emphasized that the Government’s priorities “currently go through the reinforcement of the surveillance means, with the incorporation of this plane, the improvement of the RESCAN or the increase of scientific teams on the ground and preparation of the evacuation arrangement, if necessary. ” In this alert phase of the PEVOLCA, yellow traffic light, the preparation of this possible evacuation is being coordinated by the Cabildo de La Palma with the town councils involved.
The plane, model Cessna 337G Skymaster, departed this Friday early in the morning from its base in Muchamiel, in Alicante, from where it took off bound for Córdoba for a first stopover prior to its journey to the Canary Islands. In Lanzarote he plans to make a technical stop before arriving in La Palma late this afternoon.
This coordination and observation plane plans to fly over the island to transmit photographs and videos via GPRS / 3G / 4G mobile phones and microwaves, both in the visible and infrared spectrum, to the Operations Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Mobile Analysis and Planning Units (UMAP) deployed on the ground.
