After my lectures at University of the Azores, I barely got out ahead of Hurricane Gabrielle, while the islands were bracing for the worst. How does it work there? The answer is: municipalities take comprehensive responsibility for safety. They establish their own Municipal Civil Protection Service in charge of prevention, rescue, and relief – especially in situations of disasters and public calamities. MCPS coordinates the actions of the fire service, police, gendarmerie, emergency medical services and hospitals, local maritime and aviation authorities, forestry and social services, schools, municipal cultural and sports facilities, operators of municipal and other infrastructure, public transport, communications, and more. If the state deploys the military for support, MCPS coordinates its actions too. Quite a lot of power and responsibility, isn’t it? The work of municipal MCPS’s is, in turn, coordinated by their regional counterpart. As I was leaving, MCPS was warning the public, announcing school closures, suspending transport, etc. And when the hurricane hit, it did its job.

This is a nationwide system, but it has been refined into its current form in part thanks to lessons from hurricanes and earthquakes in the Azores. Local officials say that although it isn’t perfect, it’s pretty solid. I think it’s worth taking a closer look at it now, as we are urgently rebuilding our civil defense and will likely be amending its law soon. I’m glad that, thanks to my Wrocław University of Economics and Business, I was able to learn a bit about it.

And the Azores themselves? Volcanoes, greenery and cows everywhere, and the ocean all around. Simply beautiful