Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1507818
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 SEPTEMBER 2023 9 INTERVIEW 'stormier', and wild-fires 'wilder' tain symptoms of trauma, even in yourself: for instance, how you suddenly start stammering, whenever you remember certain things... So yes: we do provide a pro- gramme of psychological coun- selling, through government's ESP [Employment Support Pro- gramme]. The service is open to the CPD; all members of the fire brigade; and even NGOs and ci- vilians, if the need arises. But I can't tell you much more about it, because the service is provided on a strictly anony- mous, voluntary basis. The CPD cannot 'force' its members to un- dergo psychological counselling; and I myself will not even be told about it, when it happens. There is a specific officer, who is responsible for handling such cases; and all I get to see is a re- port in which the individuals concerned would be identified by numbers, not names... Coming back to the situation in Libya: Malta, too, was bracing itself for the effects of Storm Daniel; although luckily, it never quite hit us in the end. Nonetheless, we still have to ask ourselves whether, and to what extent, our own country is prepared for a cataclysm of similar proportions: which might, incidentally, also take the form of an earthquake, and/or tsunami... First of all, I should point out that – when talking about Mal- ta's preparedness for a natural disaster – many people often tend to take a 'linear' approach. They will say things like: 'There's a big storm coming!' Or: 'What if there's an earthquake?'.... but they don't pause to consider what a 'big storm', or an 'earthquake', actually means in practice. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about: what might look like a 'big storm' to you, might not be very much of a concern at all, to us. Because OK: there might be strong winds; or a lot of water, falling over the islands over a period of time. But... how strong is the wind? How much water is falling, and for how long? Those are the considerations that really make a difference, as far as we are concerned. Because if, for instance, the amount of rainfall is many times greater, than usual... but it falls over a pe- riod of, say, 72 hours... then the damage caused by that storm, will be a lot less than a much low- er amount of rain, falling in the space of just two hours. It's the same with earthquakes. An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale, sounds a lot worse than a quake measuring only 5. But if the Force 5 earth- quake has a duration of around two minutes, and the Force 7, only a few seconds... the 'smaller' earthquake will cause far more damage, than the 'bigger' one. Having said this: while we are obviously not scientists ourselves, we have nonetheless been see- ing unusual weather patterns, of late. Storms seem to be getting 'stormier'; and wild fires are get- ting 'wilder'. But again: the effects of climate change are not always so easy to quantify. Take wild-fires, for ex- ample. Contrary to what many people think, the fact that the planet is getting hotter, doesn't mean that 'wild-fires' are sudden- ly going to start happening spon- taneously, all over the place. Because, with very few excep- tions – involving very specific conditions – 'heat', on its own, does not cause fires to break out. In other words: it's not as though Climate Change is 'going around with a box of matches, setting val- leys on fire'... According to a study by the EU – which corresponds to our own experience, here in Malta – 97% of wild-fires are actually caused by human intervention. Some- times deliberately, as the result of arson; but more often by ac- cident... a carelessly discarded cigarette; or a piece of glass, that magnifies sunlight; or even the si- lencer of a car, that brushes past roadside vegetation, and ignites the dried grass. However, this doesn't mean that Climate Change is not having any impact, at all. On the contrary, it is making a huge difference... because the heat dries up all the humidity from the surrounding areas, that would otherwise keep those wild-fires from spreading. So where, before, we would approach a grassfire by iden- tifying the 'choke-points', and drawing the equivalent of 'a line in the sand', to stop the fire from spreading beyond that point... to- day, it is much, much harder to do that. Even a tiny gust of wind would be enough to carry the embers far afield... and when those embers land, it is no longer on vegetation that is slightly humid: thus slow- ing down, or even preventing, the burning process. With the sort of weather we've been experiencing recently – es- pecially during the heatwave in June – those embers will most likely start separates fires, almost everywhere they land. And the speed at which these fires spread, is incredible... On the plus side, however, we have actually seen a reduction in wild-fires, recently. This is large- ly thanks to the media, which helped us disseminate our mes- sage – through a media campaign we started earlier this year – on fire-safety, in general. For this reason, we are seeing fewer fires caused by indirect hu- man intervention. There is less glass, and other possibly flam- mable material, being disposed of by the general public; and over- all, there is a lot more awareness today, than there ever was in the past. Also, it must be said that – while the nature of these emergencies might be changing – their num- ber has actually remained more or less consistent, over the years. Each year, there are between 6,000 and 7,000 incidents, in which the CPD is called on to provide assistance. Now: these could be anything from 'rescuing a cat stuck in a tree' – in other words, minor incidents which do not pose serious danger to the public – and also, large-scale emergencies, like storms, floods, and so on. Taken together, however: they're still happening at the same rate of around '6-7,000 emergency calls, per year'. At least, for now... Nonetheless, the question re- mains. There is technically noth- ing preventing a catastrophe of Libya proportions, from hap- pening here in Malta, too. So... is the CPD is a position to respond to that kind of disaster? Do you have enough personnel, for in- stance? We are in the process of adding new members, even as we speak: there is a recruitment drive cur- rently under way; and another one planned for next year. Again, however: a specific an- swer to your question, depends on the precise nature of the emergency. Do we have enough manpower, to handle an earth- quake which results in, say, '50 buildings collapsing'? I would say, probably 'yes'. But if it's a massive earthquake, in which over 5,000 buildings collapse... then the an- swer is clearly going to be 'no'. But just as I started out by talk- ing about the European Civil Protection Mechanism... I'll end with it, too. If even much larger countries – like Greece, Turkey, and Libya: the last of which, by the way, is not even a full sub- scriber to the CPD mechanism – have to rely on the assistance of international teams, to cope with disasters... how much more would Malta benefit from the same type of assistance? To put that another way: when the earthquake struck Turkey, Malta sent out container-loads of equipment, and medical sup- plies, along with a team of rescu- ers. Now: I won't say that those supplies 'made no difference at all' – I am confident that they DID help, at least a little bit – but given the scale of the emer- gency we were dealing with, at the time... it was a 'drop in the ocean', really. In a country as small as Malta, however? The same amount of supplies would make all the dif- ference in the world. And by the same reasoning: if you send 30 teams to Libya, it would certain- ly have a beneficial impact... but only on a regional level. In Mal- ta, on the other hand: 30 teams would be more than enough, to cover the entire country. It's one of those rare occasions, where 'being small' actually works out to our advantage. So yes: with all the assistance provided by the European CPD mechanism, we do have enough personnel, and expertise, to deal with even a large-scale emergency. What sort of emergency, how- ever – and how much damage we would have to contend with – that all depends on other fac- tors...