Pray for Portugal (UPDATE)

4 min read

Deviation Actions

TheJoanaPADJ's avatar
By
Published:
1.1K Views
Edit: Hi guys! First of all thank you so much for the people who showed concern for my little country. This past week was really awful but luckly everything is under control right now. Most of the fires were extinguished and we got the help of other countries and that was really amazing <3 Still, firefighters will be on high alert till 15th August.
For now, we're having a cooler weather and I hope it remains like that and that even rains a bit for a few days (that would really help out to prevent other fires).

Anyway, just wanted to let you guys know that everything is fine right now, we just need to rebuild what was lost and wait for the forests to grow again.

For the people wondering why I made this journal since I had nothing to gain with it (at least not directly) and since my city wasn't in immediate danger, it all comes down to a very simple reason: this is my country and I never saw it like this before.
We already had lots of wildfires (same with every other country in the world when summer arrives), but this time it was really something out of this world. We had whole cities and populations in danger. In the past we had some houses destroyed because they were into the forests but... wildfires big enough to the point to have them entering a city and getting people to evactuate, that was new to me. I got worried because it almost seemed like nobody else (except us inside the country) knew what was happening and it wouldn't be my journal that would do the trick but I felt compelled to do something. I felt scared that it would affect my family somehow if the wildfires came to my city. I felt worried for other people who were dealing directly with them. And mostly I felt so damn sad for the people who died and for the people who lost everything to these fires due to an idiot who just felt like destroying some woods.

--

I really needed to make a journal.




Cpfao6zXYAA3cKu by TheJoanaPADJ CpfaPYOWEAAUjY3 by TheJoanaPADJ CpfgpZyWEAEgEXE by TheJoanaPADJ
CpfgqwoXgAAk5E6 by TheJoanaPADJ Cpff U0WcAAlbye by TheJoanaPADJ 
  

People... this is Portugal right now, my little country near the ocean. And it is burning, all of it (not only the forest but urban areas as well).

I'm not in a dangerous area (at least not for now) but the sky in my city is black and orange, the air is heavy and ashes keep falling from the sky. In other areas however, people and animals are dying.

Right now I believe there are something like 200 active fires and the north of Portugal (where I live) and the island Madeira are being particularly affected by this situation. In Funchal, Madeira's capital, the fires reached the city and 3 people died, lots of houses were burnt down, many people and animals are homeless, 18th century buildings and monuments are destroyed!
Continental Portugal isn't any better. As a matter of fact... this is so bad you can even see the freaking smoke on satellite! 

 (Continental Portugal)


Arouca (a continent city) is completly surrounded by fire right now: "Firefighters went from "crisis management" to "disaster management" focused on the defense of human life."


The thing is the firefighters are exhausted since they have been non stop trying to control this "wildfires" (all man made obviously) and simply there aren't enough of them. And even with Italy, Morocco, Timor and Spain already sending some planes to help out it still isn't enough.


All I can do is just sit here trying to figure out a way to be less useless and asking myself why isn't this situation recieving more media coverage?!
I know this is not the kind of terrorism the world sadly is "used to", but in my eyes it is... this is all made by people who enjoy seeing the others suffer and who enjoy destroying...

Please spread this... help the world know what's happening here...
© 2016 - 2024 TheJoanaPADJ
Comments31
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Illithiar's avatar
I'm so sorry this happened and is still happening! And done by young people... They could do something good instead of destroying their own country, it's a terrible thing. I'm even more heartbroken that other people who live far away (like me) find out about it only thanks to sites like DA or tumblr, our (Polish) media haven't mentioned it, not even once! Is there anything foreigners could do to help that you are aware of?