Sadness. Anger. And many questions. Valencia remains in a state of shock after the floods of October 29 that killed 210 people, according to a provisional report, and caused considerable damage in several towns in the city and the region. Thousands of volunteers continued to flock to the worst-affected areas on Saturday and Sunday to help their fellow citizens. With the feeling, widely shared, of filling the deficiencies of the authorities, a strongly expressed criticism of the king, the prime minister and the regional president, on Sunday, insulted, under projectiles, by several hundred people during a particularly hectic event. Visit Paiporta, one of the towns with the most deaths and where chaos reigned for several days.
Anger equals the feeling of abandonment. If thousands of volunteers put on their boots, bought basic necessities and walked kilometers on foot to distribute them, sometimes carrying dozens of kilos on their shoulders, it was out of solidarity with their neighbors. But also because public resources were very scarce during the first three days, which led elected officials in several cities to ask for help on several occasions.
“We need food and doctors”declared on Friday, in World, the mayor of Chiva, Amparo Fuerte. The mobilization began to be truly visible and effective on Saturday, the day the government announced important new reinforcements. “We are very, very angry with the politicians and the way they have handled the crisis. “Both regionally and nationally”bothers Juan Banilla, 60 years old, local official. With his colleague, José Fernando Quintanilla, 66, he put on his hiking gear on Saturday and offered to help survivors of the wave.
Lack of coordination
“We are all terrified by what happened, the number of dead and missing. The affected cities look like war zones. But our politicians did not understand what was happening.”laments the official, while waiting for his turn to get on a bus to reach a flooded area and go out to shovel mud or remove debris.
Paula Roselto, 24 years old, psychologist, intervenes in the line of volunteers: “We knew before about the hurricane in Florida, but not here, why? » The young woman came with three friends to help. “France offered to send firefighters and our ministers said no. So that ? Did they not understand the scope of the crisis? »asks Carolina Marco, 18 years old, student. “We can all understand that we cannot stop the flood. But we could ask people not to go to work on Tuesday afternoon, that would have changed a lot of things.”continue. The same goes for the late alert received on mobile phones. A relative of the young women received the notification asking him not to go out even though he had taken refuge in a tree – he remained there for five hours. “Valencia was not prepared for this type of crisis. But this raises many other questions. On the management of flood zones. About the organization of public services »continues Paula Rosetto.
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