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'It felt like the world was ending': One year after the Iberian blackout, is Portugal more cautious?

Portugal has proposed sweeping reforms following last year’s blackout, ranging from 72-hour power autonomy for key services to an independent alert system and an overhaul of SIRESP. Meanwhile, Euronews spoke to ordinary Portuguese about their country being swept up by darkness.

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/04/28/it-felt-like-the-world-was-ending-one-year-after-the-iberian-blackout-is-portugal-more-cau

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00:00Exactly one year ago, this was the scene.
00:03Portugal and Spain were hit by a blackout that left millions of people without electricity
00:08for over 12 hours.
00:10The blackout is believed to have originated in southern Spain, with technical failures
00:15causing power surges in the Portuguese grid.
00:18Since that day, recommendations have increased for people to have an emergency kit for at
00:23least 72 hours.
00:24But would they be prepared if there were another blackout?
00:27I am a secretary, so I already had a kit ready, I had a radio.
00:32I have everything except the phone, the radio, the rest, lanterns, conservas, money at home,
00:43this I always have.
00:45I bought a radio with pilhas, I always have pilhas suplentes at home, water, and for the
00:53apagant I also prepared for a possible tremor of land.
00:56I have a backpack with a lot of things, a coverboard, a cap.
01:02If I was to buy hygienic paper, glasses of water below 7 dispensers, it seemed like the
01:07world was going to end.
01:08In Spain, the blackout from a year ago already seemed like a very distant event.
01:13The truth is that I have no longer thought of it, it has affected me.
01:17Do you have an emergency kit or more food or effective at home if it happens again?
01:24In reality, at the beginning we did it, but as we all ended up relaxing.
01:30Drinking water, non-perishable food, a first aid kit, a flashlight, a battery powered radio,
01:36and a portable charger for the cell phone, these are some of the essentials.
01:40No one wants to relieve the back-out, still, some admit that the episode brought new concerns
01:46and also some changes in habits.
01:48At the moment we are more prepared.
01:50Nothing like watching, like a lantern and reading a book, or hearing music on the radio, as
01:55as well.
01:56So, we have to go back to the old.
01:58We have to know how to live without the technologies, without being constantly connected to the
02:04internet.
02:05A year later, the parliamentary working group created in the wake of the blackout presents
02:09its final report with proposals to strengthen the response to future power outages and make
02:15the country better prepared for crisis.
02:17As expected, we are now taking the purpose of an open source of product and carry out
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