Madeira News Blog

(13th August). Today’s main news headline : ‘Tourism Gathers Together Partners To Prevent Gripe – Hotel owners and doctors in service in the sector were in Monday in ‘The Tourism’, together with ‘The Health’, to harmonise procedures to slow the spread of the virus. For now, there are information leaflets for the hotel guests’. Amongst other things the communication channels were established between the hotels and the health authorities. The same thing has already happened for schools and businesses, and now the hotels know their place in the swine flu H1N1 procedures. That includes knowing how to contain an outbreak or a case of infection. The health authority, IASAÚDE will also make available soon in the entire hotel sector on Madeira, a multilingual leaflet (in Portuguese, Spanish , English, French, German and Italian) where the symptoms are described for guests to be vigilant, and then what immediate steps to take in terms of containment of the virus. The new temperature sensors are to be installed at the airport next month, and teams of medical staff will be in place to make a quick clinical evaluation of any suspected Gripe A cases. Questionnaires will also be carried on planes coming to Madeira and Porto Santo, and passengers and flight crew will be asked to complete these whilst on board the plane. It all sounds very efficient and thorough, and although the timing has been a little slow, we have been lucky with very few cases arriving here (21 to date) all imported, and no cases yet of cross contamination. It is a shame the same diligence hasn’t yet been shown with the mosquito problem from 4 years ago, as that will not disappear within months or even years, and as these creatures are potential dengue carriers, that is a far greater medium and long term concern than swine flu. So with all the measures in place to identify, contain, and treat a case of swine flu coming to Madeira, the whole plane could be full of dengue ridden passengers, and they would be allowed through without question. They could have tackled both issues together with a bit more thought, but like everything else, nothing will happen until the dengue problem actually materialises.

‘Neighbourhood of Santo Amaro Surrounded By Police – Operation aimed to control the movement of weapons’. The mega-operation started yesterday evening with the public security police and around 70 officers, with search warrants, and also a magistrate present. At the time of the report 8 arrests had been made for the illegal or irregular possession of firearms and other offences. The operation was also looking for evidence of drug use and trafficking. The whole neighbourhood was surrounded by police, who were also searching cars that were circulating. A second later report said that the operation lasted around 4 hours, with guns and drugs seized. Santo Amaro is regarded by police as a ‘sensitive urban area’. There was no trouble reported, and several residents in the housing complexes expressed their satisfaction at the action of the police, for taking this opportunity to launch the challenge, in the sense that similar operations might be carried out with greater regularity. One Diário reader commented on the article, saying that someone (in the police?) had been watching too many films.

‘Elderly Woman Left Abandoned In Pico dos Barcelos Lives At The Expense Of Neighbours’. The 74 year old woman, Aldora, is disorientated and has bad eyesight and tension, and lives on the charity of neighbours. She was left abandoned when her daughter and son-in-law moved out of the family home. Social Security say there are no homes with vacancies to take her in, just the local day centre. She does not have any of the medication that she needs, and doesn’t like to be alone as she feels insecure, but the neighbours are not in a position to take on such a responsibility, even though they are doing what they can to help her. The tears ran down her face behind her thick-lensed glasses as she recalled last weekend when her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter left the family home.

The main front page photo today shows a pretty unimpressive view of some corrugated sheet roofing and someone’s washing out to dry : ‘Parish Of Santo António With The Best And The Worst – Quality housing estates and prefabricated units. Wide roads and steep alleys. Parties accuse the council and Madeira government of forgotten promises’. This is another one of those featured locations that have been popping up in the last few days, probably as part of the Diário’s contribution to guiding voters in the forthcoming elections. Santo António is the biggest parish in Funchal and has a right mix of urban and social residencies, and includes high and rural zones. The article looks at the contrasts between the different zones. For example a new neighbourhood called Madalena has everything to hand except a gymnasium, whilst in another part of the parish, Quinta das Freiras, people live in prefabricated units, and can only dream about living in a house that is not ‘rotten’. Many families have lived in these units for 30 years.

‘Restoration Of Levadas To Prevent Losses – Altogether around 100 levadas are to be restored’. The highlighted levadas in the article are those between Machico and Caniçal (16km), and Calheta and Ponta do Sol (17km) that are to be repaired to reduce substantial water losses, and increase the capacity for water flow, particularly to help during the critical Summer period. The two levada stretches mentioned will cost €3.72 million to restore / improve, money which will be reimbursed by the European Union under the Rural Development Program for the Autonomous Region of Madeira. There is much more detail in the article, but too much to reproduce here.

‘High Voltage in Ribeira Brava worries CDU candidate – Isabel Cardoso asks for the intervention of ERSE to safeguard the health of the population’. The CDU (communist) candidate for the Assembly of the Republic today asked for the intervention of the Energy Services Regulatory Authority to investigate the installation of new High Voltage ‘corridors’ at various sites in Ribeira Brava. Isabel Cardoso recalls that the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the negative impacts of high voltage to human health. The candidate demands that public health is safeguarded. "We are concerned about this and call on the intervention of the ERSE, where the region is represented by a representative of the Madeira government, the consumer protection organisation, and the Electricity Company of Madeira," she said. No wonder it’s been so hot here the last few days, I think I am being zapped with stray high voltage energy waves.

‘Prison Guards Announce 8 Strike Days For September – The professionals want the same age as the police for pre-retirement and retirement benefits’. The National Union of the Body of Prison Guards (SNCGP) yesterday decided to carry out a further eight days of strike action in September, that was announced during the protest vigil that is held in front of the Ministry of Justice (Lisbon, Portugal).

This from the Jornal da Madeira : ‘Câmara of Funchal Calls For Trade To Be Open On 21st – The city authority wants to turn the Day of the City into a great party of fraternization for the people of Funchal and beyond’. The program for the Day of the City of Funchal, which is celebrated on 21st August, will be similar to last year, with lots of initiatives from the morning through to 23.30 pm, with a firework performance in the bay to finish. In 2008, thousands of people attended the various activities throughout the day, from the air show ‘Wings of Portugal’, to the historical parade that travelled through the streets of the city. The programme this year will be similar to 2008, and businesses are being asked to open up on what normally would be a public holiday in Funchal. "It is a day that may be good economically, and those with restaurants and bars downtown can capitalize" said a CMF spokesman. The parade will have 700 participants and costumes covering 400 years. The cost for the event is €100,000. The full programme is here : FUNCHAL 501 : but there is no English version.

Santa Cruz has joined the open air cinema brigade again this year, with the latest films showing every day between 21st and 27th of August. Anyone welcome. Two of the films are Mama Mia (21st) and Slum Dog Billionaire (27th). The other titles I can translate, but they might not tie back to the original English titles.

Portugal beat Liechtenstein 0 – 3 last night in a friendly game. The goal drought all seemed to be over and forgotten, with 3 goals in the first 25 minutes, but that was it and no more came. ‘Three Goals And Reinforced Confidence For ‘The Final’ – Portugal beat Liechtenstein with a safe performance. The opponents were not the same level as Denmark, but provided a boost in confidence for the decisive game in Copenhagen’. The new ‘premier’ league football season starts tomorrow.