#civil-protection

#civil-protection

If you were anywhere near Barcelona at 10 a.m. on Monday, November 3, you probably jumped out of your skin when your phone suddenly started buzzing. You weren't alone. More than five million mobile phones across Catalonia received the same loud, startling message - a mass emergency alert test carried out by the Generalitat's Civil Protection department ( Protecció Civil). The alert, part of Spain's ES-Alert public warning system, reached people in Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Maresme, Vallès Occidental and Vallès Oriental, making it the largest drill ever conducted by the Catalan government. Even those just passing through on a motorway or train heard their devices blare the familiar emergency tone.

He said waiting any longer would be dangerous and expensive, and criticised those who deny the realities of global heating in Spain. Over the past five years, he said, the climate emergency had caused more than 20,000 deaths and cost the public purse 32bn (28bn) in material losses. We need to mobilise as a society against climate change, which is a common enemy that lies beyond ideologies, he said.