The Bloco de Esquerda presented this Thursday (12) a request to the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, following the landslide that occurred in the parish of Graça, which led to the preventive evacuation of seven people from three buildings, after a “mass movement” detected by Civil Protection.
According to information released by the Municipal Civil Protection, the landslide — caused by intense rain in recent days — put several buildings on Rua Damasceno Monteiro at immediate risk, forcing the temporary relocation of a mother and a son by the municipality, while the remaining homeless people turned to family support.
The councilor of the Bloco de Esquerda, Carolina Serrão, went to the site this Thursday and wrote a note asking the Executive for explanations and recalling a “structural and recurring problem.” In question, it questions the instability of the slope, drainage failures, which have led to damage to homes and occasional evacuations. This had already happened in 2010 and 2017.
In the request presented, the Bloco de Esquerda demands urgent clarifications regarding “the technical assessments already carried out by Civil Protection, the current degree of risk of the evacuated buildings and the remaining adjacent buildings and regarding the immediate measures to stabilize the slope. The party says it is paying attention to a possible “independent structural inspection” and “municipal support for affected families.”
“It is not acceptable that successive alerts and episodes of instability continue without a structural response. People’s safety must be above all and requires planning, investment and transparency”, said Carolina Serrão in a statement.
The Bloc recently advanced a motion in the City Council to recognize Storm Kristin as an extreme weather phenomenon. He regretted, however, the rejection of Carlos Moedas and the other right-wing councilors that plans to reinforce infrastructure and guarantee financial support for affected populations were approved. In this case, it would imply that the Mayor of Lisbon put pressure on the Government of Luís Montenegro.
At the City Council meeting on the 4th, the 13th of the current Executive, the Socialist Party had also questioned Carlos Moedas about “Lisbon’s degree of preparation in terms of preventing and responding to storms”. The socialists led by Alexandra Leitão wanted clarification on the measures adopted in Civil Protection and urban drainage.
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