Forty crews put Marbella tsunami plan to the test on El Faro beach

Marbella Town Hall sent out 40 emergency staff onto El Faro beach for a live drill built around a fictitious quake that could send a wave towards the Costa del Sol. Local Police, National Police, firefighters, Civil Protection, beach lifeguards and Salvamento Maritimo all took part, with drones, quads, boats, jet skis and ambulances on the sand and in the water.

Citizen Safety councillor Jose Eduardo Diaz stood with Beaches councillor Diego Lopez and said planning still matters if neighbours and holidaymakers are to stay safe when something real happens. He added that crews got to watch protocols, radio traffic and arrival times while people were actually on the beach.

How the mock 112 emergency call played out

Civil Protection explained that the job was simple: see whether every service that would turn out for a seismic and tsunami job can work as one unit. Crews practised pulling about 20 people from the sea to the shore and moving them to higher ground, then treating and shifting one injured person on the sand.

A dummy 112 alert started the clock and opened an advanced command post. Staff then cleared the beach up to Paseo Maritimo Duque de Ahumada, which sits on higher ground, using the marked routes already written into the municipal playbooks.

Plans signed off in March now get a real run

This run-through used Marbella’s local tsunami plan and its local seismic plan, both cleared in March by Andalucia’s standing Civil Protection commission. Those documents set out evacuation routes and safe zones after council approval earlier this year.

A joint debrief followed, looking at timings, radios and who talks to whom, so gaps can be closed before anyone needs this for real. Beach rescue kit already used on the 27-kilometre shoreline, from jet skis to patrol quads, was folded into the same picture.

UNESCO still rates a Mediterranean wave of at least a metre as highly likely within the next 30 years, and a nearby Alboran Sea quake could leave little more than 20 minutes before water hits the Costa del Sol. Official council notes on the exercise sit on Marbella’s citizen safety pages. Spain’s National Geographic Institute and 112 Andalucia remain the first ports of call if the next alert is not a drill.