Money to pay for the repair of houses damaged in the August fire that tore through the Monchique region is expected "next week," according to Rui André, the local mayor.
The total or partial reconstruction of 50 houses affected by the fire will cost "approximately €2 million," according to the town hall.
The list of victims who will receive support has been reduced from 61 to "close to 50," says André, some being excluded as they were not owners of primary homes or the owners did not have the necessary documents.
The first tranche of funds will be used for smaller repair jobs which do not need a building licence before being carried out.
Many badly damaged houses will need this licence before repair and rebuilding work can be started but many of these properties have illegal additions which need to be regularised before work can start, adding to the time delays that have characterised a disjointed aid programme.
The mayor claims that extra support is available to allow those who have been displaced, “to be able to return home soon.”
The main problem that the victims of the fire encounter is the lack of day-to-day practical help from the State and the Council, linked to a general lack of information and an inability to register as a genuine ‘victim,’ which would speed up access to services.
Volunteer group Ajuda Monchique, set up to establish an immediate and practical source of equipment, advice and help, commented soon after the clear up operation started,
“There is still a lack of official, centralised and accessible information to indicate - where, how, when and by what criteria official support is available. The absence of an officially published methodology with clear and transparent criteria has prevented many people affected by the fires from accessing support."
Despite a variety of official response mechanisms, “there is no centralised crisis office with a physical space that respects the privacy of each individual and where it is possible to access the necessary information in order to ensure timely official responses,” according to the volunteer group, adding that, as there is no official certificate for genuine victims, it is hard to obtain copies of lost documents which are needed in any application process for government support.
Applications under the PDR 2020 Operational Programme to ‘finance the replacement of productive potential,’ “has been a long bureaucratic process, difficult and, for many, simply impossible to achieve." Many applicants have given up or failed to start the process.
"This scenario has discouraged the victims of the fires and led some to despair. We have received a lot of complaints and the general feedback is that most people who, in fact, have lost their productive potential do not intend to continue with the application, if the bureaucratic process remains the same, "concluded Ajuda Monchique.
This volunteer programme has been highly successful in organising practical aid distribution and logging the damage that the fire caused. The Ajuda Monchique volunteers took in donations and redistributed those essential goods needed by people that had lost their property in the fires.
The main complaint from victims was the long bureaucratic processes and slow response times to resolve obvious cases of need including food, shelter water and electricity.
The volunteer movement, created by a group of Monchique locals in collaboration with the Council, has shone as the principal front line support service to those who suffered the most losses in this fire.
"We have received worrisome testimony about the difficulties experienced by the people affected by the fire and we feel it is our duty to share this information with everyone," said a spokesperson, in August.
Government reports into the devastating fires, which destroyed 27,000 hectares of forest and farmland, may focus on the fire itself, the proficiency of firefighting services and the Civil Defence Authority but under the inevitable heading ‘lessons to be learned’ the deft and dedicated local volunteers of Ajuda Monchique ensured practical help was provided and spirits raised among those who lost their homes, farms and livestock.
