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LIFE IN SPAIN

Tsunamis, earthquakes and terror attacks: Spain goes disaster drill crazy

Over the last two weeks several disaster and terrorism simulations have taken place across Spain, with no specific reason for this given by authorities.

Published: 7 November 2023 12:06 CET
Tsunamis, earthquakes and terror attacks: Spain goes disaster drill crazy
A man holding a rifle a gun to represent an attacker takes part in a terrorist attack drill at the Barcelona Sants railway station. Photo: Pau BARRENA/AFP.

Down in the coastal town of Chipiona, Cádiz province, in the very south-western point of Spain, the local government hosted a tsunami simulation this week to coordinate a joint response to the threat of a tsunami wave smashing into the coastal city.

Though this may seem unlikely, Cádiz does have form when it comes to tsunamis. The tsunami of 1755, caused by an 8.5 magnitude earthquake in the Atlantic, devastated the cities of Cádiz and nearby Huelva and killed hundreds of people. 

Coordinated by the National Seismic Network of Spain’s National Geographic Institute (IGN), the disaster drill saw a local school with 250 students evacuated in record time.

“There are many earthquakes in this area and you have to be cautious,” said the mayor of Chipiona, Luis Mario Aparcero.

In the very same week, Andalusian neighbours in Málaga province also had their very own disaster simulation drills, this time preparing for the threat of earthquakes and forest fires.

Firefighters and members of the Spanish Red Cross take part in an annual earthquake drill, carried out in Marbella, on October 23, 2023. Photo: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP.
 

These sorts of natural occurrences seem much closer to home to many Spaniards, with forest fires ravaging many parts of the country over the summer and the recent earthquake in nearby Morocco focusing many minds on the risks of similar disasters in Spain.

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The emergency drills, run by the Junta de Andalusia and held in the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz, were held to test the local emergency services in the face of major catastrophes. Two simulations were held in the municipalities of San Roque and Marbella.

In Barcelona, about 500 people took part in what the Spanish press has called a very “realistic” drill that saw several “terrorists” killed by Spanish security forces.

Paramedics, members of the Catalan regional police forces, Mossos d’Esquadra, and extras acting as victims take part in a terrorist attack drill at the Barcelona Sants railway station in Barcelona on October 27, 2023. Photo: Pau BARRENA/AFP.
 

As part of the drill, six actors pretending to be terrorists entered Barcelona’s Sants train station and staged an attack. Different scenarios were played out, ranging from indiscriminate attacks to kidnapping hostages on a train.

The anti-terror drill was the “biggest simulation that has ever been done,” according to Joan Ignasi Elena, Interior Minister of the Generalitat, Joan Ignasi Elena, which involved hundreds of emergency service personnel, the security services, and extras.

In the current political climate perhaps anti-terror drills are not surprising.

Spain has been at the second-highest anti-terror level since 2015, but in recent weeks it has been raised and new security measures implemented amid terror attacks in Europe and the Israel-Hamas war.

Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska ordered that Spain’s terror threat level be increased to four out of five with “complementary measures”, in the wake of the murder of two Swedish football fans in Brussels and a French school teacher killed by IS in Paris. Security concerns have been compounded following violence in the Middle East.

READ MORE: Spain raises terror alert after Belgium and France attacks

Ignasi Elena, however, was keen to “decontextualise” the current anti-terrorist alert situation in Spain due to the war situation between Israel and Gaza, since the disaster drill Barcelona had been scheduled for a long time.

In February 2023, the Spanish government also activated its new mobile alert system that warns people in the country of nearby natural disasters or emergencies. 

In October, authorities launched drills in the regions of Cantabria, Asturias and Andalusia, which saw people on the network in those autonomous communities receive SMS where they were informed it just a simulation. 

Although there has been no publicised reason for these drills to all take place over the course of October and November, authorities are clearly trying to prepare the country’s emergency services and Spain’s 48 million inhabitants for the possibility of having to act fast in the event of a natural disaster or terror attack, all of which seemingly appear more likely in a world of increasingly extreme weather and escalating geopolitical tensions. 

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PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2024 08:31 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

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