The Leiria City Council will open on Tuesday, at the Sant’Ana Market, the “Reerguer Leiria” office, a space to support residents, institutions and the municipality’s economic activities affected by the Kristin depression, as announced yesterday.
The municipal service desk will operate from 09:00 to 18:00, with service organized through a system of numbered tickets, and brings together, “in a single space, information, clarifications and referrals in various areas”, according to a press release from the municipality.
“Support is available to individuals in the housing area, with guidance for the recovery of affected homes, as well as measures aimed at businesses and commerce, with a view to the recovery of economic activity,” explains the municipality.
In the space, there will also be “support to social solidarity institutions and associations, helping in the resumption of their activity”.
The office also counts on “the collaboration of lawyers, who provide support in guiding and filling out the claims submitted to insurance companies, as well as in reporting losses on the platforms created for this purpose”.
The Reerguer Leiria Office has the collaboration of other public and private entities, and forms part of the municipality’s response to the situation in the county, gravely affected by the Kristin depression.
To the Lusa agency, the mayor of the municipality, Gonçalo Lopes, explained that this space “corresponds to the beginning of a new phase, which is the phase of finding mechanisms to facilitate the requests for support announced by the Government”.
In the coming weeks, the Sant’Ana Market will transform into a “information point and submission point for the most diverse aid requests”, in the housing area, social assistance or others, declared Gonçalo Lopes.
“That work will be carried out in coordination with the various State bodies, as well as with institutions that have already shown willingness to collaborate in this phase,” he said,
The aim is “to guide people who want to rebuild their lives,” the mayor said, noting that, subsequently, this experience is intended to be transferred to the parish councils.
Fifteen people have died in Portugal since January 28 as a result of the passage of the Kristin, Leonardo and Marta depressions, which also left hundreds injured and displaced.
Total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, the collapse of trees and structures, the closure of roads, schools and transport services, and outages of energy, water and communications, floods and inundations are the main material consequences of the storm.
The Centro, Lisbon and Tagus Valley, and Alentejo regions are the most affected.
The Government extended the state of calamity until the 15th for 68 municipalities and announced support measures totalling up to 2.5 billion euros.
