Crisis management

The Plan of Specialized Support (PSS) is a document drawn up by the Interdepartmental Service of Civil Protection. It aims to envisage the protection measures of the populations to be implemented in the event of dangerous volcanic activity of the Soufriere of Guadeloupe. The current PSS was published in August 1999 and replaces "Plan ORSEC Eruption" that dates back to March 1976. It benefited amply from the 1976-1977 experience, but also from the management of Montserrat eruption crisis that started in 1995.

The IPGP made an important contribution, primarily thanks to Jean-Christophe Komorowski, director of the OVSG from 1997 to 2001, who collaborated closely with Denis Mauvais, Chef of the SIDPC at the same period.

The PSS is based on 4-level color-coded notification:

1. during yellow level: the organization of the emergency services related to the risks of the everyday life remains unchanged; they remain under the responsibility of the Fire Department (SDIS) and the SAMU/SMUR.

2. during orange and red levels:

- the organization of the emergency services is articulated by the existing SDIS, SMU/SMUR whose means are engaged on request by phone (dialing 18 and 15),

- the mayors can call, in coordination with the Prefect, to the associations of first-aid workers who are able to install aid stations in the places which will be indicated to them,

- the dispensaries as well as the aid stations installed could be used as relay for the distribution of all emergency materials that the situation would justify (protection masks, bottled water, bleach,), but also to provide continuous information to the population on existing risks, prevention and safety measures.

- psychological assistance: teams of psychologists will reinforce the aid stations, town hall and/or dispensaries according to the requests from the mayors to the cell crisis at the "Préfecture"

- Various scenarios are considered in order to adapt the emergency measures. They go from the simple vigilance on the quality of water to the partial or total evacuations of communes. The knowledge acquired on the behavior and activity of Soufriere volcano as well as the existing monitoring tools largely modified the current operational approach compared to the crisis of 1976. This is why; a partial or total evacuation is only the most extreme cases of the several possible scenarios.
- The nature of this evacuation is also being considered as it can be caused:

o Planned : by decision of the prefect,
o Spontaneous: departure as a precaution or panic.