LISBON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited a gypsy community on Saturday that was left homeless after a tornado strike.
The tornado hit the town of Faro on Portugal's south coast last Sunday. A gypsy community of some 100 people saw their make-shift homes destroyed.
The homes were built in the Escuro and Cerro do Bruxo districts on the edge of town. For the most part they were huts made of wood, tiles and sheets of metal.
The families were given temporary accommodation in the Penha district sports hall where the president visited them.
"I'm happy and grateful, from the bottom of my heart, that he came here," a spokesman for the community told the SIC news channel.
"We didn't talk about the huts specifically," he said, "we talked about a longer-term solution, what he (the president) called a gateway project."
"We live in a democratic, open and inclusive society," said Rebelo de Sousa. "It's good for everyone to accept integration, to understand there are differences, but to do everything, while respecting those differences, to ensure integration and make sure nobody is marginalized or left in a ghetto."
Elsewhere on Saturday, another tornado was sighted at Esposende in the north of Portugal. It has now been the fourth tornado reported in Portugal in the past week, after two in Faro and one in Viana do Castelo, north of Esposende.
Portugal has been experiencing wild weather recently, with strong winds and heavy rain.
