The Government of the Azores has made a considerable investment to provide the Azores Civil Protection with the best equipment and infrastructures as well as with qualified human resources. The Regional Secretariat has awarded priority status to the qualification of all Civil Protection agents who participate in rescue operation and provide assistance to the population.

This was the message conveyed today by the Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures at the opening session of the course on psychosocial intervention that is being held in Ponta Delgada. José Contente highlighted the importance of this course, which was has been taught on the islands of Terceira, Faial and S.Miguel in partnership with the Portalegre Health School with the purpose of reinforcing the technical and human skills in the counselling to victims of traumatic situations.

The training course aims to improve psychosocial intervention in situations of emergency and catastrophe, based on scientific principles and the experience in the field. It is crucial "to bring relief to the mind and provide support to cope with the traumas caused by accidents before repairing damages and infrastructures. Improving the quality of the assistance provided by favouring proximity and comfort between people involved in a disaster situation is our main priority," said the Regional Secretary.

José Contente recalled several tragedies he witnessed while being in charge of the Azores Civil Protection services - the SATA accident on S. Jorge, earthquakes and landslides, such as the one that occurred in Ribeira Grande - and demonstrated the importance of psychological counselling provided by civil protection agents to the population. In this context, the government official defended that this type of support that must be qualified, firm and empathetic.

Therefore, this training course "meets the principles assumed by the Azorean Government, which has made considerable investment in the training and qualification of our human resources. We are aware that we will only improve the assistance provided if we have better prepared people that are able to deal with unusual situations."

The Regional Secretary also stressed the large public investment in the area of civil protection, mainly in the acquisition of new vehicles, such as ambulances. "In 1995 we only had 49 ambulances and there now are 102 in the Azores; the number of fire trucks, fire command, support and transport vehicles has doubled" in the same period of time. We have promoted the training of personnel and the hiring new emergency ambulance crews, who were non-existent in 1995, but there are now 84 crews in the Azores with training in basic life support and automatic emergency defibrillation." Moreover, the Government has invested over 22 million Euros in the renewal and expansion of fire stations in addition to the investments made in an excellent communications network, recognised nationally.

"There is here a growing investment that has improved the safety system of our population, thus evidencing the reinforcement of a particularly vital area in an earthquake-prone and volcanic region where Civil Protection agents must provide a qualified response in the event of these scenarios or other hazards."