Parliament has approved a lamentably tardy recommendation from the PSD, CDS-PP and Left Bloc for the Government to adopt simplified procedures to support the victims of the Monchique fire, as it did for the fires of 2017 in Pedrógão Grande.
Three resolutions were approved despite the remarkable abstention of Socialist Party MPs who thus appear to want the whole issue to crawl away and die.
The Monchique fire, tackled by more than a thousand firefighters, wrecked farms, houses, productive land, irrigation systems, trees and crops and also damaged areas of the neighbouring counties of Silves, Portimão and Odemira.
In the draft resolution, the Social Democrats urged the Government not only to amend the legislation to adopt a simplified victim support procedure but also to promote to the population, "the established support and the necessary procedures to proceed quickly and quickly to the payment of support in the context of the restoration of productive potential, the reconstruction and recovery of dwellings, and reception areas for damaged wood.”
"The PSD Parliamentary Group understands that the victims of the fire in the Algarve deserve similar treatment and the same criteria of support that were adopted for the municipalities affected by the fires of 2017," read the petition.
Also the petition wanted the Government to compile and makes available, on its website, a list of the all the help available to those affected and take the necessary measures to let people know what those are.
The CDS-PP, in the understatement of the week, said that, "The support announced and already made available by the Government, in many cases does not fit the reality of the situation of the people and does not really solve their problems."
The Left Bloc considers it, "incomprehensible and unacceptable" that the people and companies affected have not yet received the necessary support and aid from the government.
In addition to the urgent adoption of the simplified procedure, the Left Bloc blocs urge the Government, together with local authorities and in face-to-face meetings, to inform those affected about the methods and procedures for accessing the necessary support and these measures are further disseminated through available local channels."
It remains astonishing that, after the summer fire that swept through Monchique, the only practical help available was from voluntary groups and hard-pressed local council staff.
The government, despite heavy criticism over the relief operation in the aftermath of the 2017 fires in which over 100 people died, is still not prepared to help those most in need, e.g. those made homeless, with no food, clothing, livestock, crops, trees, bees and water. When the TV cameras have left, the politicians no longer are interested.
Aid, available only after filling in paperwork, accompanied by documentation consumed by the flames, is a favourite way of denying help. Yet again the State views all applicants for aid as scroungers while seeking to gain positive PR by announcing all sorts of aid ‘packages,’ looking concerned while on camera and promising to "work together to ensure this never happens again."
Nothing was learnt from the 2017 fires, except by the public that found the government and its Civil Defence organisation to be wholly unprofessional and unprepared for conflagrations on such a scale.
The self-reliance of those in Monchique for centuries has been a necessary facet for their physical survival with many, sensibly, dismissing government aid as just so much waffle as they try to rebuild their farms and shattered finances. The latest petition also will be treated with the contempt it deserves, with the lack of support from Socialist MPs illustrative of the arrogance shown from Lisbon towards those in the Algarve that are lower down the social scale.
