Last Friday, the Local Governing Board approved the protocol for activating the Municipal Operational Coordination Centre (CECOPAL), the body responsible for coordinating the City Council's actions in emergency situations and whose main function is to direct and organise all municipal resources to provide a rapid and effective response.
The protocol sets out the structure of CECOPAL, which is headed by the Mayor's Office, the competent authority for activating the mechanism, appointing the members of the Advisory Committee and determining the orders and measures to be taken. The Municipal Emergency Headquarters is headed by the Chief of the Calpe Local Police, who assumes the executive power to implement the instructions and agreements adopted within CECOPAL.
The structure is completed by an Advisory Committee made up of the Department of Public Safety, the Local Police Headquarters, Civil Protection, the Department of Infrastructure, the Department of Health, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Education. At the same time, an Information Committee is set up, made up of the Department of Communication and the Municipal Communication Department.
The document establishes the Town Hall meeting room as the headquarters of CECOPAL. However, in the event of a power cut or technical impossibility of communication, its members must move as quickly as possible to the Advanced Command Post, located at the Local Police headquarters.
The protocol also lists the municipal resources that can provide logistical support in an emergency, such as the municipal brigades, the Animal Protection Service, municipal machinery and vehicles, as well as sports facilities that can be used as shelters, among others.
It should be noted that in September 2023, Calpe Town Council approved the Municipal Territorial Emergency Plan, the Municipal Forest Fire Action Plan, the Municipal Flood Action Plan and the Municipal Seismic Risk Action Plan. These documents regulate the response to each type of emergency, and the newly approved protocol will apply to all of them.
The Councillor for Public Safety, Guillermo Sendra, pointed out that "CECOPAL is the municipal body responsible for directing and coordinating action in emergency situations. In view of the repeated alerts in recent months, such as strong winds, heavy rain and other incidents, we considered it appropriate to draw up a document establishing the basic guidelines for its activation, in order to unify criteria, determine who its members are, define its powers and clarify its composition. All this with the aim of being prepared for any emergency situation."