Working overtime, in civilian clothes or losing vacation days, the Alicante Civil Guards were one of the most dedicated groups helping in the disaster caused by DANA in Valencia, where They lost two corps mates in the flooded Paiporta barracks.
The insufficient aid sent by the administrations led the civil guards to begin to collaborate alone as citizens, while waiting for a excellent device towards the most affected areas.
Although since Wednesday a group of guards from the Special Underwater Activities Group (GEAS), the Citizen Security Unit (USECIC), the Traffic Group and the Judicial Police have been deployed in Valencia to remove the bodies , the city’s various professional associations They considered it insufficient given the scale of the tragedy.
Many of them went to the flooded towns after their work day, on their days off or because they were in the area with their families, and demanded that This help will be coordinated from the body.
In a joint statement, they stressed “the provision of volunteer staff who would provide a service without requiring any compensation or submission to the regulation of hours and working hours” in a petition addressed to the general head of the Valencia area.
This movement appeared after “inaction” that existed since the administrations, affirms the provincial general secretary of the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC), Francisco Javier García.
The press release, published last Friday, came into force and was created, thanks to the union of associations, a special assistive device composed of 326 civil guards among the hundreds most willing to mobilize.
Since Monday, the first civil guards from Alicante have started to arrive. García explains that the device is composed of a mix of specialists from different units and guards.
“As a civilian, anyone can go there, but what is needed are specialized teams that bring our knowledge and our specialties in the field. I know that many civil guards in Valencia They left their shift, changed and came back to help people in the cities”, comments the provincial secretary of the AUGC.
Specialized help
The main tasks of this system will be to prevent looting with Citizen Security patrols, to provide humanitarian aid and, above all, to locate the missing and to be able to relieve colleagues already in place, “who are overloaded by all the efforts made”, they underline in the letter.
They will intervene in 12 hour shifts to enable travel to and from Alicante on the same day without the need for accommodation, unlike other national schemes which go on secondment for several days.
The 300 will not leave at the same time. García affirms that they are distributed in quadrants that include the most critical points and that they will take turns between them so as not to leave the province of Alicante unattended.
“The situation is fatal“, regrets the secretary, which is why we will also take care of the cleaning tasks during the week when the crew will be active, with the possibility of extending it according to the needs of the populations affected by DANA.
