Starting on Thursday, May 16, the Ministry of Health has once again activated the National Preventive Action Plan for the Effects of Excess Temperatures on health. The objective of the National Plan is to prevent and mitigate the negative effects that excessive heat can have on the health of citizens, especially in risk or more vulnerable groups, such as older people, pregnant women, minors, and people with chronic diseases, as well as in those groups that carry out their work or make efforts outdoors.
As part of the protocol, you can receive official alerts for your area by email and SMS, for free, by signing up on the official website (link below).
You have to give your name, email address and mobile number, the province you want to receive the alerts for (Alicante in the case of Torrevieja) and choose the dates you want to receive the alerts, from now until the end of September.
Once you submit your data you will receive an email with a link to activate the service, but DO NOT CLICK the link, until you have received an activation code by SMS, which they say could take a few hours. Once you have the code by SMS, then click the link, submit the code, and you are good to go.
Remember to only add your information to the official website linked below, and also remember that the service is completely free, so if any websites attempt to charge, do not submit your information.
Here is the link to subscribe to the free and official alerts:
https://www.sanidad.gob.es/excesoTemperaturas2024/suscripcion.do
One of the priority actions of the Plan is to alert health authorities and citizens sufficiently in advance of possible risk situations. To this end, the Ministry of Health will provide the Autonomous Communities with daily predictions of maximum temperatures prepared by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) as well as the health risk levels due to high temperatures. This information will also be available to citizens on the Ministry’s website.
The Plan defines for each territorial area a temperature threshold of health impact from which a significant statistical relationship between mortality and heat has been observed.
Each day, the Ministry of Health establishes a daily risk level for each territorial area based on the difference between the temperatures predicted by AEMET for that day and the following two days and the temperature threshold for health impact. There are four risk levels (level 0 (green), no risk, level 1 (yellow), low risk, level 2 (orange), medium risk and level 3 (red), high risk.
Outdoor workers are not allowed to carry out their activities if certain alert levels are activated, but the level and threshold differs from area to area, so it is important to check where you are.
You can view the heat warning weather map here:
https://www.sanidad.gob.es/excesoTemperaturas2024/provincias.do
The main novelty of the Plan in 2024 is the introduction of the Meteoalert Zone used by AEMET as a territorial level for extreme heat warnings, which complements the provincial level used in previous plans. The calculation of the new thresholds per weather alert zone has been carried out by the Climate Change Health and Urban Environment Research Group, of the Carlos III Health Institute. Extreme heat warnings at the Meteoalert zone level will be available starting June 3.
This information is updated daily on the Ministry of Health website (www.sanidad.gob.es).
Remember also to always follow the advice of health professionals, such as avoiding the hottest part of the day, walking in the shade, wearing light clothing, avoiding alcohol, but drinking plenty of water, amongst other important measures.
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