An apologetic Patrick Murgo is doing his best to keep up with the interview while answering as many office and mobile phone calls as he can. Both phones never stop ringing.
"This summer, just like the one before it, has been very busy. It's been all hands on deck," he says with a grin.
Breaks for the 44-year-old CPD director are hard to come by.
Last summer, he was all set to start enjoying a rare few days of rest in Gozo, when he received a call informing him that the late President Emeritus Guido de Marco had, unfortunately, passed away. And so began the logistics organisation for his state funeral.
He returned to Malta to liaise with others within the department on important details, but the next day, as he was pondering whether to go ahead with his holiday in Gozo, a number of Civil Protection Department (CPD) officials had to be called into action after one of Mosta's fireworks factories blew to smithereens. One man died, while several others were injured.
Prior to that, there was the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Malta, for which logistically, no stone was left unturned.
As it does every year, this summer the department has also been working in tandem with organisers of several concerts, of which several take place during this time of the year, to ensure that all precautions are in place and that CPD officials are on stand-by to ascertain the safety of attendees.
"There's always something happening to keep us occupied," Mr Murgo comments.
Furthermore, explains Mr Murgo, at the moment the CPD is analysing two projects, which are in their initial phases but which, if implemented, could have a lasting impact on life in Malta.
"We are working with various institutions to see whether we could come up with a device to track, and monitor closely, oil spills between Malta and Sicily, and limit the damage should any such spills occur.
"Moreover, we're looking at integrating the rapid changes in mobile phone technology to normal life.
"Today, smart phones and portable computers have become part of every day life, and we're trying to see whether it's possible to devise an early warning system to inform of any potential environmental damage through these two technological devices.
"A few years ago, the public would be alerted to an emergency,Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room. such as the possibility of heavy flooding in parts of Malta, for example, through sirens.
"Nowadays, it is more convenient to send a warning message on the radio, internet or TV, since people are using these mediums more than ever before.
"But transmitting warnings could be quicker and perhaps more efficient through SMSs or through an application, which could be made downloadable on smart phones, which would alert people immediately of the possibility of danger occurring in some places at certain times of the day," Mr Murgo explains.
It may be described by certain members of the media as the silly season, but there are more calls for CPD assistance in summer than in any of the other three seasons, Mr Murgo states.
"In summer, we are assisted a lot by volunteers of several NGOs, to whom we are thankful for helping us at a time when our resources are sometimes stretched.
"For the past few weeks, the CPD has been called a lot to deal with grass fires and other fires which sometimes occur in some of Malta's woodland. I think it's very important especially for the CPD to intervene in the latter scenario, for we don't want the remaining few trees we have on this island to be destroyed," he jokes.
Oil spills are a regular occurrence on the islands' roads,who was responsible for tracking down Charles China ceramic tile . Mr Murgo says, and are often cleaned thanks to CPD officials who do their best to render the road/s safe again for motorists as quickly as possible.
One trend which has been increasing every summer, and bringing with it various dangers is diving from high cliffs or buildings into the sea.
"This phenomenon seems to have somewhat become even more popular this year. There are several risks associated with jumping from high places and some people have even died in the past after miscalculating the depth of the sea or after landing on partially hidden rocks.
"We've seen a lot of people pulling off crazy jumps in Comino, off Manoel Island and near the area known as Il-Fekruna, Xemxija. Most often, when people injure themselves seriously, the CPD has to deploy a helicopter or dinghy to help the injured parties. Moreover, besides running the risk of becoming crippled for the rest of their lives, those who jump into the sea recklessly also risk injuring bathers who happen to be in the sea, " Mr Murgo says.
120 officials work for the CPD, all of whom had to attend a three to four month long foundation course, during which time they learnt the basics of firefighting, driving heavy vehicles and how to administer first aid before they could qualify to work as an assistance and rescue officer.
Specialised training is later provided to those interested in working in certain fields, such as diving. Regular physical tests also take place to keep track of the health and fitness of every official.
At any one point of every day in Malta and Gozo, 30 CPD officials will be on duty, while several others will be on standby.
Over the past few weeks, Mr Murgo explains, everyone has had to work extra hard, as the department helped coordinate one humanitarian mission after another to Libya, Malta's neighbours across the Mediterranean sea.
Two weeks ago, the CPD liaised with the government to send a vessel which docked at the port of Tripoli after almost 36 hours at sea, carrying onboard some 350 tonnes of potable water.
Earlier this year, some 150 tonnes of potable water, medical aid, bedding supplies and food was shipped from Malta to Misurata, which was one of the worst affected Libyan cities since the start of the uprising in the north African country.
Last Friday, the CPD's efforts were also concentrated on coordinating another humanitarian aid mission to Libya,the Bedding by special invited artist for 2011, this time in collaboration with the German government, which helped sent a further €100,Our oil painting reproduction was down for about an hour and a half,000 worth of aid to the war torn country.
In the meantime, the CPD continues to receive donations – both monetary and in the form of humanitarian aid- from the public, to help the most needed in Libya. Over €38,000 has been collected so far.
"The generosity of the Maltese never stops," Mr Murgo remarks.
"We're still establishing now how best to spend this money and on what. We've tried very hard to ensure that the department's day-to-day operations are not affected or disrupted by these humanitarian missions, and we've done a lot of homework to ensure that every mission runs as smoothly as possible.
"As yet, we do not have any more requests to help coordinate more humanitarian aid missions to Libya, and although it looks like Libya is enjoying one of its calmer moments since the start of the war, the situation remains very fluid. The feedback we've received has been very positive,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar RUBBER MATS systems, as the CPD and Maltese government continue to remain in regular contact with the health services in Tripoli and with representatives of the National Transitional Council," Mr Murgo says.
Before Malta started ferrying goods to Libya, the CPD collaborated with the government in assisting in the repatriation of third-country nationals who were stuck in the borders of Tunisia and Egypt during the first few weeks of the crisis.
Libya, however, is not the first country the CPD has helped coordinate humanitarian aid missions to in recent months.
"In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, we collaborated with the Salesians of Don Bosco, who have missionaries in Haiti, and helped send a ship, also loaded with humanitarian aid, to the destroyed nation. This particular journey took around 40 days to go there and come back.
"Shortly afterwards, we sent a lot of bedding material to Pakistan, parts of which were badly damaged following heavy flash floods, which also took place in northern Albania a few weeks later, which is another country we also helped with aid, sending numerous mattresses and bedding linen for the evacuees to rest on.
"Much of our humanitarian aid is, unfortunately, sent to countries which are already heavily impoverished prior to a natural disaster, which is why it's important to help in whatever manner we can," Mr Murgo says.
"This summer, just like the one before it, has been very busy. It's been all hands on deck," he says with a grin.
Breaks for the 44-year-old CPD director are hard to come by.
Last summer, he was all set to start enjoying a rare few days of rest in Gozo, when he received a call informing him that the late President Emeritus Guido de Marco had, unfortunately, passed away. And so began the logistics organisation for his state funeral.
He returned to Malta to liaise with others within the department on important details, but the next day, as he was pondering whether to go ahead with his holiday in Gozo, a number of Civil Protection Department (CPD) officials had to be called into action after one of Mosta's fireworks factories blew to smithereens. One man died, while several others were injured.
Prior to that, there was the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Malta, for which logistically, no stone was left unturned.
As it does every year, this summer the department has also been working in tandem with organisers of several concerts, of which several take place during this time of the year, to ensure that all precautions are in place and that CPD officials are on stand-by to ascertain the safety of attendees.
"There's always something happening to keep us occupied," Mr Murgo comments.
Furthermore, explains Mr Murgo, at the moment the CPD is analysing two projects, which are in their initial phases but which, if implemented, could have a lasting impact on life in Malta.
"We are working with various institutions to see whether we could come up with a device to track, and monitor closely, oil spills between Malta and Sicily, and limit the damage should any such spills occur.
"Moreover, we're looking at integrating the rapid changes in mobile phone technology to normal life.
"Today, smart phones and portable computers have become part of every day life, and we're trying to see whether it's possible to devise an early warning system to inform of any potential environmental damage through these two technological devices.
"A few years ago, the public would be alerted to an emergency,Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room. such as the possibility of heavy flooding in parts of Malta, for example, through sirens.
"Nowadays, it is more convenient to send a warning message on the radio, internet or TV, since people are using these mediums more than ever before.
"But transmitting warnings could be quicker and perhaps more efficient through SMSs or through an application, which could be made downloadable on smart phones, which would alert people immediately of the possibility of danger occurring in some places at certain times of the day," Mr Murgo explains.
It may be described by certain members of the media as the silly season, but there are more calls for CPD assistance in summer than in any of the other three seasons, Mr Murgo states.
"In summer, we are assisted a lot by volunteers of several NGOs, to whom we are thankful for helping us at a time when our resources are sometimes stretched.
"For the past few weeks, the CPD has been called a lot to deal with grass fires and other fires which sometimes occur in some of Malta's woodland. I think it's very important especially for the CPD to intervene in the latter scenario, for we don't want the remaining few trees we have on this island to be destroyed," he jokes.
Oil spills are a regular occurrence on the islands' roads,who was responsible for tracking down Charles China ceramic tile . Mr Murgo says, and are often cleaned thanks to CPD officials who do their best to render the road/s safe again for motorists as quickly as possible.
One trend which has been increasing every summer, and bringing with it various dangers is diving from high cliffs or buildings into the sea.
"This phenomenon seems to have somewhat become even more popular this year. There are several risks associated with jumping from high places and some people have even died in the past after miscalculating the depth of the sea or after landing on partially hidden rocks.
"We've seen a lot of people pulling off crazy jumps in Comino, off Manoel Island and near the area known as Il-Fekruna, Xemxija. Most often, when people injure themselves seriously, the CPD has to deploy a helicopter or dinghy to help the injured parties. Moreover, besides running the risk of becoming crippled for the rest of their lives, those who jump into the sea recklessly also risk injuring bathers who happen to be in the sea, " Mr Murgo says.
120 officials work for the CPD, all of whom had to attend a three to four month long foundation course, during which time they learnt the basics of firefighting, driving heavy vehicles and how to administer first aid before they could qualify to work as an assistance and rescue officer.
Specialised training is later provided to those interested in working in certain fields, such as diving. Regular physical tests also take place to keep track of the health and fitness of every official.
At any one point of every day in Malta and Gozo, 30 CPD officials will be on duty, while several others will be on standby.
Over the past few weeks, Mr Murgo explains, everyone has had to work extra hard, as the department helped coordinate one humanitarian mission after another to Libya, Malta's neighbours across the Mediterranean sea.
Two weeks ago, the CPD liaised with the government to send a vessel which docked at the port of Tripoli after almost 36 hours at sea, carrying onboard some 350 tonnes of potable water.
Earlier this year, some 150 tonnes of potable water, medical aid, bedding supplies and food was shipped from Malta to Misurata, which was one of the worst affected Libyan cities since the start of the uprising in the north African country.
Last Friday, the CPD's efforts were also concentrated on coordinating another humanitarian aid mission to Libya,the Bedding by special invited artist for 2011, this time in collaboration with the German government, which helped sent a further €100,Our oil painting reproduction was down for about an hour and a half,000 worth of aid to the war torn country.
In the meantime, the CPD continues to receive donations – both monetary and in the form of humanitarian aid- from the public, to help the most needed in Libya. Over €38,000 has been collected so far.
"The generosity of the Maltese never stops," Mr Murgo remarks.
"We're still establishing now how best to spend this money and on what. We've tried very hard to ensure that the department's day-to-day operations are not affected or disrupted by these humanitarian missions, and we've done a lot of homework to ensure that every mission runs as smoothly as possible.
"As yet, we do not have any more requests to help coordinate more humanitarian aid missions to Libya, and although it looks like Libya is enjoying one of its calmer moments since the start of the war, the situation remains very fluid. The feedback we've received has been very positive,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar RUBBER MATS systems, as the CPD and Maltese government continue to remain in regular contact with the health services in Tripoli and with representatives of the National Transitional Council," Mr Murgo says.
Before Malta started ferrying goods to Libya, the CPD collaborated with the government in assisting in the repatriation of third-country nationals who were stuck in the borders of Tunisia and Egypt during the first few weeks of the crisis.
Libya, however, is not the first country the CPD has helped coordinate humanitarian aid missions to in recent months.
"In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, we collaborated with the Salesians of Don Bosco, who have missionaries in Haiti, and helped send a ship, also loaded with humanitarian aid, to the destroyed nation. This particular journey took around 40 days to go there and come back.
"Shortly afterwards, we sent a lot of bedding material to Pakistan, parts of which were badly damaged following heavy flash floods, which also took place in northern Albania a few weeks later, which is another country we also helped with aid, sending numerous mattresses and bedding linen for the evacuees to rest on.
"Much of our humanitarian aid is, unfortunately, sent to countries which are already heavily impoverished prior to a natural disaster, which is why it's important to help in whatever manner we can," Mr Murgo says.
