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The Legislative Assembly approved a new system to monitor risks and issue special alerts and warnings to the population in case of serious accidents or catastrophes.
The Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira approved Regional Legislative Decree No. 12/2026/M, which creates the Regional System for Risk Monitoring and Communication, Special Alert and Population Warning. This decree adapts the national regime provided for in Decree-Law No. 2/2019, of January 3, to the region.
The system aims to strengthen the capacity for prevention, monitoring and response to extreme meteorological phenomena, such as storms, rural fires, landslides and intense rainfall, to which Madeira is particularly vulnerable due to its complex orography and geographical location.
The decree defines the concepts of "special alert" (communication to the civil protection system) and "civil protection warning" (direct communication to the population), which can be preventive or for action. The issuance of special alerts is the responsibility of the Regional Civil Protection Service, IP-RAM (SRPC, IP-RAM) and the Municipal Civil Protection Services. The issuance of warnings to the population is the responsibility of the Regional Operational Coordination Centre and municipal civil protection structures.
The system establishes a duty of collaboration for several entities, including:
These entities must guarantee the conditions for the dissemination of warnings, which can be made through sirens, mobile phones, television, radio, applications, email or social networks.
The decree enters into force the day after its publication.
The renewal of the service commission for Maria Teresa Brazão as Director of the Environmental Inspection and Legal Action Unit has been authorized.
Dispatch No. 357/2026 appoints Services Director Virgínia Pestana do Nascimento and, in her absence, Duarte Gonçalo Costa, to substitute the Regional Director of Spatial Planning.
The Regional Secretary for Tourism, Environment and Culture has appointed three senior technicians to head newly created divisions within his office, on a one-year service commission basis.