Although no lives were lost during the Monchique fires, there were injuries, houses and other properties destroyed or damaged; considerable destruction to the environment; death and injury of animals; people who have lost their homes and were displaced, and livelihoods destroyed, writes David Thomas of Safe Communities Portugal.
Not only physical damage, but also psychological damage to those who lived through this terrifying ordeal.
It is vitally important that lessons are learned from this as early as possible.
In my experience for lessons learned to be as comprehensive and effective as possible, it is important to incorporate the experiences, not only the emergency services, BUT also members of the public who were affected in any way, as well as non-government entities who gave supporting services.
Safe Communities has therefore written to Government and has requested that a direct channel is formed so that individual members of the public and other entities can share their first hand experiences and make recommendations for the future, as part of any Government review.
We hope this is agreed and await a reply.
David Thomas
President
Safe Communities Portugal