INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR MONITORING AND ALERTING NATURAL RISKS IN THE REGION WILL COST 10 MILLION EUROS

The President of the Regional Government has just visited the Regional Civil Engineering Laboratory (LREC), where he learned about the features of the new Integrated System for Monitoring and Alerting Natural Risks in the Region, SIMARN.

This is an additional tool for decision support in matters of security for the population that will be connected to all municipalities in the Region until the end of this month. The first phase of the project is budgeted at 3 million euros, but more than 10 million euros will have to be invested with regional amounts and community funds by 2025.
The system allows for live observation, through various cameras, of various points in the Region, to in addition to detecting adverse situations such as floods, landslides or fires, as explained by the person responsible for the LREC, Pimenta de França.

There will be meetings with the Regional Civil Protection Service and IPMA, as well as with the Regional Secretariat for Equipment and Infrastructures for the integrated application of the system.

Miguel Albuquerque highlighted the importance of this system for preventing and monitoring fires, landslides and floods as a way of protecting the population, highlighting the fact that this is a regional project that can be implemented in other parts of the world

As stated in the press release, the system monitors landslides and alluvium in adverse weather conditions or prolonged precipitation, indicates risk locations through an easy-to-read graphic platform developed for this specific purpose and informs, at all times, of the state of the several geophysical variables that are of interest to the quantification of risks.

In terms of monitoring forest fires, the System assesses in real time the probabilistic level of the occurrence of fires at any point on the island of Madeira depending on weather conditions, autonomously detects the ignition points in the areas under surveillance and positions the respective geographical coordinates. on the same graphics platform.

Several video surveillance cameras make it possible to view, at any given moment, the conditions of the river flows in the streams already monitored and to assess risks of landslides and flooding. 
The System, although functional, is not yet fully completed.
With regard to the control of river flows, only two of the regional municipalities are covered by surveillance cameras, namely Funchal and Ribeira Brava.
With regard to remote detection and remote surveillance of fires, only forest areas in the municipalities of Calheta, Porto Moniz, Ponta do Sol, São Vicente and Funchal are controlled.
The extension of the System to the entire regional territory by the end of 2023, beginning of 2024, is one of the objectives of the Regional Civil Engineering Laboratory, and its pursuit depends on the availability of funding.

From Jornal Madeira