About 90,000 places in different cities to see the eclipse
Emergency services fear that many visitors will go to the mountains despite the fire risk
TarragonaThe Catalan municipalities from where the eclipse can be well seen have organized to offer safe and controlled spaces from which to enjoy the meteorological spectacle. The objective is threefold: on the one hand, it is a way for the town councils to help citizens enjoy the eclipse and it is also a new opportunity to promote each city, in full tourist season. But there is also a safety reason, and it is that the emergency teams, on a day that will mobilize tens of thousands of people, prefer to have citizens in a municipal sports center rather than wandering around the mountains to find a good observation point. "Everything that is orderly, the better," explain sources from Civil Protection.
The government of the Generalitat, through the Department of Research and Universities, already sought last year the best locations to view the eclipse by applying scientific and logistical criteria. The 18 selected municipalities have more than 3,000 inhabitants – the smallest ones have been excluded to avoid overwhelming them – and the chosen locations in each municipality have good access and guarantee safety. Furthermore, it is clear, if the clouds do not interfere, all locations will have a clear view to the west at 8:30 p.m., so the eclipse can be seen well, at least for 55 seconds. In some of the municipalities, such as L'Ametlla de Mar, the eclipse can be seen for 1 minute and 28 seconds. It should be remembered that at the time of the eclipse, the Sun will be so low that mountains may prevent its observation from some towns.
The cities that have reserved spaces for eclipse observation are Alcanar, Altafulla, Amposta, Camarles, Cambrils, Constantí, Gandesa, L'Aldea, L'Ametlla de Mar, Les Borges Blanques, Lleida, Montbrió del Camp, Móra la Nova, Reus, Santa Bàrbara, Tarragona, Torredembarra and Valls. Initially, this list also included El Vendrell and Salou, but the former was dropped after verifying that visibility was not as good as predicted, while Salou has preferred to go it alone, as the eclipse coincides with the summer festival, Les Nits Daurades.
Food and concerts
The selected cities have proposed the spaces and the department has validated them. Only in the case of Tarragona, not all locations have, for now, the approval of the Generalitat. The cities have offered 42,425 places, including sports centers, car parks and other facilities, and the city of Tarragona has announced five spaces with capacity for 55,000 more people. Even so, sources from the Generalitat have informed the newspaper ARA that, in principle, only one of the five locations proposed by the Tarragona City Council will receive its validation. For the rest, the City Council itself will have to respond. Among the places proposed by the City Council are the Port of Tarragona and the Parc de Francolí.
In Valls, for example, a space with capacity for 4,000 people has been set up in its industrial estate, where there will be places to eat something and afternoon concerts especially for families, with Reaggae per Xics, and others for a more adult audience after the eclipse, with groups like Fenya Rai! or Destil·lats. In addition, astrophotographer Carlos Uriarte will guide the community observation of the peak moment of the eclipse. To access it, it will be necessary to have reserved one of the free tickets that were sold out weeks ago. The same system of free tickets has been used in Lleida, which has organized observation points at the Turó de la Seu Vella and in Magraners. Around the Parc de la Festa in Reus there will also be an observation point and family and cultural activities will be held there.
In the Balearic Islands, from where there will also be good visibility for the eclipse, the government has not yet announced what the observation points will be or how they will be organized.
Fire risk
Having nearly 90,000 people observing the eclipse from the different Catalan municipalities will help reduce the risk. Protecció Civil acknowledges that it is dangerous that, in the middle of August, there are thousands of people looking for a good spot from a mountain that, in most cases, they will not know well enough. The State government calculates that around 10 million people will gather in the strip from where the eclipse will be visible, but there are no other calculations. From the southern regions of Catalonia, the phenomenon coincides with sunset and this will make its visibility a little difficult, but there is a high probability that there will be no clouds.
In the Galicia and Cantabria strip, on the other hand, the Sun will be a little higher at the time of the eclipse, but the risk of clouds is much more significant. How many people will decide to come to Catalonia and the Balearic Islands to see the eclipse? Nobody knows. And this uncertainty, in the middle of August and with many possibilities of having some Alfa Plan activated for fire risk, is frightening. "Some Natural Parks are closed, for sure," explain sources from the Generalitat. They are also afraid that some visitors will be late to their destination and end up leaving their car on the shoulder of a road to go down to see the eclipse. What everyone is sure of, from the experience of other countries that have already lived through it, is that once the eclipse is over, the vast majority of visitors will want to leave and there will be collapses on different roads.
