French President Emmanuel Macron has toured the towns devastated by storm Alex as Monaco continues to do its part for the victims in Vésubie, Tinée and Roya valleys.
Five days after disaster truck, and relief operations continue in the Alpes Maritimes and Liguria, with a total of five bodies recovered since Sunday.
More than 1,000 rescuers are involved in search operations and delivering aid to communities devastated by the floods.
Eight people are still missing while the number of suspected disappearances – people who have not been heard from since Friday – was at least 14 on Wednesday.
Three towns remain inaccessibly by land – Tende, La Brigue, Saorge and Fontan.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Tende and Breil on Wednesday afternoon, before heading to Saint-Martin-Vesubie.
The government has confirmed a state of natural disaster for the affected towns, facilitating compensation claims.
After a request by the Alpes-Maritimes Regional Health Agency, the Monaco government said on Wednesday that it will be sending 45 nurses and caregivers from the Cardio-Thoracique Center and the Monaco Red Cross to support the Tende Hospital.
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On Tuesday, Minister of State Pierre Dartout announced to the National Council that Monaco would be giving €4 million to relief efforts, to be allocated evenly to each affected French town, as well as to Ventimiglia and the Italian side of the Roya river.
Mayor Georges Marsan and members of the Council will also be making a financial donation to the Department of the Alpes Maritimes to contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure.
Numerous support efforts are currently underway in Monaco, and the Mairie is now setting up a special collection point at the Espace Léo Ferré on Thursday and Friday welcoming all foodstuffs, hygiene products and other everyday items.
The Unité Légère d’Intervention et de Secours (ULIS) will be responsible for distributing the items to affected communities.
The collection point will be open from 9am to 5pm on Thursday, and 9am to 2pm on Friday.
It is requested that only the following items be donated:
Foodstuffs, Flour, Salt, Sugar, Yeast, Preserves (tuna, pâté, peas …), Pasta, Rice, Lentils, Compotes, Sweets / chips / peanuts, Cereal bars, Cereals, Biscuits, Tea, Instant coffee, Chocolate powder, Jam, Water (still & sparkling), Milk, Fruit juice boxes (large and small), Hygiene products, Soap, Shower gel, Shampoo, Baby & adult diapers, Female hygiene products, Toothbrush and toothpaste, Tissues, Deodorant, Toilet paper, Hairbrush – comb, Candles – lighters, Matches, Camping tableware (cutlery – plates – glasses), Flashlights with batteries, Dry food for animals, Notebooks / Coloured pencils Coloring pages, Scotch, Markers, Ballpoint pens, Pencils, Erasers, Scissors
People wishing to donate other types of food and non-food products other than those listed above can contact the Ulis association directly on 06 60 10 87 68 / http://ulisfrance.fr/contact.php
Top photo: Prefecture des Alpes Maritimes
Day: 7 October 2020
3D printed panels to improve marine biodiversity
Photo: Next to Prince Albert II: Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Equipment, Environment and Town Planning; Stéphane Valeri, President of the National Council; Robert Calcagno, Director General of the Oceanographic Institute, Prince Albert I Foundation, Prince of Monaco; Valérie Davenet, Director of the Environment; Raphaël Simonet, Head of the Natural Heritage division © Manuel Vitali / Government Communication Department
Principality launches new digital services
Photo: Frédéric Genta, Interministerial Delegate for the Digital Transition (left) and Julien Dejanovic, Director of Digital Services (right). © Communication Department / Michael Alesi
OceanoScientific Contaminants Expedition
Local navigator Yvan Griboval is set to take off on another oceanographic campaign, this time to study contaminants in the Mediterranean ahead of a larger expedition in the Spring.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Yvan Griboval, navigator of Club des Explorateurs from the Yacht Club of Monaco, announced that he will set off on another oceanographic campaign on Thursday, 15th October at 3.00pm from the YCM’s main pontoon. He will be at the controls of the Amaala Explorer maxi-catamaran, which had its heyday as Club Med 20-years ago, flying the flag of the Yacht Club of Monaco and winning The Race 2000, the first non-stop round-the-world race in a crewed multihull.
The campaign will consist of collecting samples of chemical contaminants – metallic and organic – according to the recommendations of the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer), which is supervising the scientific aspects of this OceanoScientific Contaminants Mediterranean Expedition 2020. The 2,800km course will run from Monaco to Porto Cervo, Barcelona, La Seyne-sur-Mer and Monaco. The expedition will end on Thursday, 29th October at 11.00am in Monaco.
On recommendation from Ifremer, two distinct scientific methods will be applied.
The Amaala Explorer maxi-catamaran will allow the crew, including the young Swedish marine biologist Linn Sekund, to study the mouths of the three main rivers of the western Mediterranean: the Tiber, not far from Rome, the Ebro between Barcelona and Valencia, and the Rhone, west of Marseille. There, Yvan Griboval and Linn Sekund will collect samples and also install two sets of passive sensors approximately 1.50 metres below the surface of the sea on beacon buoys.
The sampling will concentrate on the trace metals of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and mercury (Hg). Although naturally present in the environment, it is their exceptionally high concentration which poses a risk for marine fauna and flora, starting with plankton, the first organisms to be poisoned at the outset of the food chain.
During the expedition, nine locations will be used to collect samples, which will then be stored in the onboard freezer and handed over to researchers at Ifremer Toulon on Wednesday 28th October during a port call in La Seyne-sur-Mer. The scientists will quantify and analyze the concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and tributyltins (TBT), all of which are organic compounds. They too poison the food chain until it ends up in our plates.
The Amaala Explorer is named after the main sponsor of the expedition, a luxury tourism project on Saudi Arabia’s northwestern coast that is inspired by the Red Sea. The site has been tasked by the Saudi Kingdom to preserve its environment and, in particular, the magnificent coral reefs in the Red Sea, and to balance its carbon footprint.
“In fact, this short two-week expedition will allow us to see if the yacht is genuinely suitable for our forthcoming OceanoScientific Expeditions,” explained Yvan. “We know that the maxi-catamaran is capable of sailing in the difficult conditions of the Far South, but we want to check that it is also suitable for our work on contaminants and, potentially from next spring onwards, to carry out a series of unprecedented assignments to discover, study and save coral.”
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