El Hierro declares a migratory emergency after 8,000 migrants arrive in 5 weeks

The Cabildo of El Hierro has declared a social emergency and the need for collaboration with higher institutions to manage the current migration crisis on the island, with the arrival of more than 8,000 people in the last five weeks. Between last midnight and this Saturday morning, a total of 314 people traveling in three canoes disembarked in El Hierro, sources from the emergency device informed Efe.

Alpidio Armas, president of the Cabildo, has formalized this request by decree in the face of a situation that "has been worsening in recent days, putting pressure on the different human and assistance resources available in the protocol."

In the last five days alone, more than 3,000 people have been registered on board about thirty cayucos, the Cabildo details in a note.

The island president considers that these figures force this institutional decision to be made to provide a response consistent with the situation in a manner “coordinated with the rest of the institutions, because El Hierro cannot face this alone.”

“We need more resources and more means to prevent the protocol that we have been carrying out in recent years from overflowing or breaking,” he comments.

This decree requests both the Government of the Canary Islands and the State for the presence of more human resources and a rotation that allows the personnel of the assistance devices of both Maritime Rescue and the Canarian Health Service, the State Security Corps and Forces, the Red Cross and other NGOs in charge of assisting migrants to rest.

This declaration also contemplates establishing protocols to coordinately transfer migrants to other islands with greater capacity and reinforce the island's first reception facilities, among other measures.

The president also emphasizes the need to take into account the reality of La Restinga and the sectors that carry out their activity around the port.

The migratory situation has a “direct impact” on the usual dynamics of this town, which is why it is necessary to also address the needs of its neighbors, merchants, companies, professionals in the fishing sector and diving companies, says Armas.

The Cabildo considers it essential that the measures adopted make it possible to make humanitarian care compatible with the normal development of the activity of this fishing town.

The island corporation requests this type of measures in the face of a situation that El Hierro is going through, which already presents a level of "considerable tension", to which is added a "growing concern" about the difficulties of coordination and the functioning of the established protocols, which must offer agile and effective responses to episodes of high influx.

Added to this reality is the “uncertainty” about the evolution of the migratory route and the possibility that the pressure on the island will continue to increase in the coming weeks or months, which makes it essential to anticipate and have sufficient action mechanisms and resources before the situation reaches levels that are even more difficult to manage.

The Island Council has carried out different actions to maintain health conditions in the migrant arrival area as well as guarantee the existence of temporary and provisional Centers for the first reception that can alleviate the care pressure experienced in the Temporary Reception Center for Foreigners located in San Andrés.