O contributo dos municípios na preparação das populações para prevenir e mitigar os impactos dos incêndios rurais em Portugal

Abstract

In 2017, Portugal had the worst record for rural fires. In addition to the record area burnt, there were also 117 deaths, hundreds of people injured and hundreds of infrastructures affected. The lack of information and preparation to deal with extreme fires contributes to occurrence of these catastrophes. Preparedness is based on good communication practice with the aim of helping people to take decisions during a rural fire. The aim of this work is to: (i) to identify the weaknesses of fire risk communication between municipalities and communities; and (ii) to understand if the experience with extreme fires influenced risk communication. An online survey was sent to all non-urban municipalities in mainland Portugal. From the 275 municipalities surveyed, 101 responses were obtained. The findings show a great heterogeneity in the understanding of the importance of communication, the competences they have at this level and in the actions carried out. The main difficulties identified are the lack of receptivity of the public due to lack of confidence in the institutions and the fact that the information provided is general and repetitive. The main gaps are associated with the use of passive forms of communication, the low frequency of actions that are mostly seasonal and the weak collaboration between institutions. Consequently. communication between municipalities and populations in Portugal is not capable of reducing the risk or improving preparedness for the challenge of more frequent extreme fires.