María Gámez has visited the island of La Palma to thank the work carried out by the Civil Guard personnel after the end of the volcanic emergency
Almost 14,000 agents have worked during the volcanic emergency to ensure the safety of the palm trees and palm trees
The Civil Guard has carried out 655 aids and has evacuated almost 7,800 people
The general director of the Civil Guard, María Gámez, has visited the agents deployed in La Palma for the second time to thank, on behalf of the entire Institution, the men and women of the Civil Guard for the work they have been doing since the start of the volcanic emergency. She has been accompanied by the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana.
During the 85 days that the eruptive activity lasted, the Civil Guard exercised command of the PEVOLCA Security Group at all times, coordinating the actions of the different Security Forces that operate in the emergency zone, given the operational capabilities that it can deploy. in the control of land, air and maritime exclusion zones.
Currently, a monitoring of the volcano is being carried out in order to control the gases that still flow from the cone and in the different flows. Work has also begun to remove the lava from the affected roads and that connect the affected neighborhoods, starting in the La Laguna neighborhood, the main communication artery in the Aridane Valley.
The general director has held a meeting with personnel from all the scales and units that have been deployed. “I wanted to come personally, I already did a month after the eruption began, to thank you on behalf of the entire Civil Guard for your tenacity, effort, intense and quiet work. You have been the first to arrive and as always you will be accompanying and helping the palm trees and palm trees until the end ”.
María Gámez wanted to transfer “her pride in the country”, because all the administrations have worked in a coordinated way, showing that adversity is better faced from the union. He also highlighted the exemplary behavior of the citizens of La Palma, who have handled such a difficult situation as well as possible, respecting the instructions of the security forces at all times.
Aid from the Social Action Plan to Corps personnel affected by the eruption
Of the more than 1,600 buildings affected by the volcanic eruption, 17 civil guards were injured. María Gámez has announced that the Civil Guard Action Plan for the year 2021, an aid of 227,500 euros has been contemplated for the personnel affected by the eruption and whose income forecast is scheduled for the next few days, in addition, it has also been included in the Action Plan for 2022 another aid with an initial budget of 120,000 euros.
María Gámez has especially thanked these affected personnel who, despite their personal situation, have not stopped working for a single day, demonstrating their professionalism and worthy character.
The Director General has also been with the Director of Pevolca, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, who has transferred to María Gámez the professionalism and human quality of the Corps staff and has congratulated them for a job well done at the service of citizenship, which is the motto of the Civil Guard.
During this visit, he was also able to thank the NGO World Central Kitchen that was deployed in the area and with which he has worked regularly and with Jordana Rodríguez, representative of the Cecopin of the Cabildo de La Palma who has developed the coordination work daily with Civil Guard personnel at the Advanced Command Post. Finally, María Gámez has been able to greet a retired civil guard who has traveled from Cádiz and has served as a Civil Protection volunteer for the three months.
Actions carried out by the Civil Guard on La Palma
Since the eruption of the volcano on September 19, 2021, the Civil Guard has carried out a total of 655 aid to some 131,000 people. Likewise, it has participated in 19 evacuations, with almost 7,800 people being evacuated.
A total of 13,928 Civil Guard agents have worked in different tasks to guarantee the safety of the residents of La Palma.
Likewise, citizen security units, Traffic Group, investigation units (Information and Judicial Police), SEPRONA, ARS, Air Service, Cynological Service, SEDEX-NRBQ, Mountain Service and Maritime Service have participated, using 1,513 vehicles during the service land, an air medium (helicopter) and 50 boats.
In addition to the Units assigned to the 2nd Company on the Island of La Palma, with a potential of 140 personnel, the device was reinforced with personnel from units from other companies and specialties from the Comandancias de Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas, as well as well as the Reserve and Security Grouping, with an average of 250 reinforcement troops on said island. This deployment covered the aforementioned three exclusion zones: the land zone, with the bulk of the contingent; the maritime zone, with the deployment at all times of a vessel of the Maritime Service / GEAS; and the air zone, with the support of the Tenerife Air Unit and the PEGASO Team of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Command.
The main tasks carried out by the Civil Guard were the security of evacuated areas, control of communication routes and humanitarian evacuation actions and support for the displaced population.
Once the evacuation work of the population from the affected areas was completed, SEPRONA carried out the rescue of about 180 domestic animals (dogs and cats), about 800 farm animals (pigs, goats, chickens, etc.), as well as like exotic animals and bee hives.
These animals were initially relocated to shelters and when they were identified, they were gradually handed over to their owners.
In addition to ensuring the maritime and air exclusion zones, the Provincial Maritime Service carried out a total of 49 support services to the Scientific Committee (INVOLCÁN and scientists from the University of La Laguna) that constantly monitored the volcano and the Unit Aérea de Tenerife carried out 10 reconnaissance flights.
The Santa Cruz de La Palma Detachment was reinforced with personnel from other units of the Canary Islands Traffic Sector, which were subsequently joined by 21 components from different Units of the National Traffic Group.
The Reserve and Security Group has been deployed, permanently, with an entity of 86 components. In this deployment, components of the ARS specialized in the CBRN environment have been included from the beginning, in order to provide security to the Unit's own personnel, to the different emergency services or to citizens who tried to access their homes, monitoring the air quality. More than 3,500 measurements have been made.
More than 400 components have participated in this deployment of the ARS, coming from the Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Barcelona, León, Pontevedra and Tenerife Groups.
For more information, you can contact the Peripheral Communication Office of the Civil Guard of Tenerife at the telephone number 696943009.
