Fogo, Cape Verde 22 June 2006

Day 2 Daily report by Evert Somer, civil emergency expert from NATO External link Website of Exercise "Steadfast Jaguar 2006" Multimedia 22 Jun. 2006 - NATO Audio file of the daily audio diary .MP3/1587Kb News 21 Jun. 06 - NATO Inferno threat in exercise scenario To be able to better follow the preparations of the Cape Verdean authorities for their part of Exercise Steadfast Jaguar 2006 I moved, together with my colleague from the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), from the capital Praia to the Island of Fogo. Yesterday I mentioned already that in the context of this exercise, the alert level had been increased to three. This decision was based on constant monitoring with instruments. Six monitor stations have been placed in Fogo; some of them close or inside the crater registering changes inside seismic activity. In addition, four stations have been installed that reduce the variations in the inclinations of the surface and can also detect changes in the carbon dioxide emissions. All data produced by these monitoring stations are real time sent to a project team on geographical vigilance of the Fogo volcano in Praia. This project team advises the civil protection authorities on any changes in the alert level. In accordance with the national plan for the volcanic eruption on Fogo, the mayors of the three municipalities have started their co-ordination work. As in many countries, also in Cape Verde, the responsibility for response to disasters is with local authorities. As this situation that is exercised on Fogo may have an impact on all three municipalities, co-ordination between the three mayors of course is very important, which also includes the possibility of pooling of resources. Daily co-ordination meetings are now conducted where representatives of the health services, the police, the firefighters, the social services and the Cape Verdean Red Cross are present because they all play an important role in the implementation of the emergency plan. For this particular exercise my colleague of the UNOCHA and myself also participate in these co-ordination meetings. In the meantime, the plan for the evacuation of the inhabitants of the Caldeiras are being reviewed. The location for the camp for the evacuees has been reconfirmed and the plan on how to transport the inhabitants is critically looked at. Some of the roads are quite narrow; a traffic circulation plan will be enforced allowing in some roads only one way traffic. In the first instance, the inhabitants will be brought to an assembly point in the Caldeiras where staff from the civil protection and Red Cross will be present. As a next step, the people will be brought out of danger zone over a distance of approximately five kilometres. From this so-called staging area, also manned with civil protection staff and Red Cross personnel, part of them would go to the camp for evacuees which will be located near Achada Furna. The majority, some 600, will be able to stay with friends and family. As part of the NRF assistance, a civil military cooperation support team consisting of German, French and Spanish officers is now assisting the Cape Verdean authorities in the planning for the evacuation and also for the planning of the establishment of the camp for evacuees. Of course, evacuation would only take place once the next level of alert would have been increased for this exercise.