President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has denied that the Armed Forces were slow to enter a state of readiness during recent severe weather events, whilst conceding that shortcomings in official communication may have fuelled public confusion.
Marcelo visited the isolated community of Valada do Ribatejo, in the municipality of Cartaxo, where he was questioned by the press about the timing of the response to the bad weather. Civil Protection services activated an alert on 27 January, but, according to the weekly newspaper Expresso, the Armed Forces only moved to a state of readiness almost a week later.
“I have doubts about that, because I went into the field on the 30th and, on that day, I was already quoting statements from the Armed Forces,” the President said. “I was reading them because there was no Armed Forces spokesperson explaining matters. I spoke about what had already been done the day before and what was already on standby that same day.”
Marcelo argued that the perception of delay stemmed not from inaction, but from poor communication. “Once again, there was a communication problem,” he said.
“The fact that there was no oral spokesperson and only written statements, which no one read and no one knew about, led to the interpretation that the Armed Forces were not on the ground,” he stressed.
He recalled that the military and the Air Force had already been deployed in areas such as Ferreira do Zêzere and Leiria, as well as in the initial core regions that were hardest hit in the first days of the crisis.
The President acknowledged that ensuring effective communication in such circumstances is particularly challenging. “Communication is very difficult to establish and to make work,” he said, adding that the dispersion of government members across the country further complicates coordination and the flow of information.
Source: DN
