On Tuesday, October 29, after 8 p.m., when some of the localities most affected by the floods were already completely flooded, Valencians received a message on their cell phones warning them of the risks of DANA. The controversy to check which failed in the forecasts queue since the very night of the tragedy.
This first responsibility returns to the Valencian Generalitatresponsible for issuing said notice, through its Emergency Coordination Center. At least that’s what the majority of people consulted in the latest survey prepared by Sociometrica for EL ESPAÑOL believe.
50.8% of Valencians think that at that time the Generalitat was the authority that should have acted, compared to 43.7% who consider that the matter should fall into the hands of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), dependent on the central government.
This is an opinion that becomes even more prevalent when asked specifically about the mobile notifications. In this case, 61% of Valencians believe that this issue is the responsibility of the autonomous community, compared to 32.7% who believe that the central government should be held responsible.
The percentages are very similar when asking the rest of Spaniards on this and other questions.
Of course, about half of Valencians and all Spaniards think that the responsibility should have been that of AEMET. This is what 47.7% of Valencians think and 47.1% who consider that it is good that the alert service depends on the autonomous community.
This fact has been present in the public debate for a week, when the first storms occurred. Even if until this Monday, the president of the Valencian Generalitat, Carlos Mazongave no explanation on this subject.
Mazón criticizes the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ), which depends on the Ministry of Ecological Transition, for having deactivated the hydrological alert three times. According to this version, the CHJ underestimated the amount of water accumulated in the so-called Barranco del Poyo, which is the one that overflowed, causing the disaster in a series of villages south of Valencia.
This hydrological warning does not refer to precipitation, but to the capacity of the canals to support the water flowing through them.
In any case, the Ministry of Ecological Transition denies Mazón’s version because it claims to have provided the precise information every moment of this day and what are the autonomous civil protection services those responsible for alerting the population.
AEMET has also defended itself these days, ensuring that its forecasts were accurate.
National emergency
However, once the floods occurred, the debate shifted to the question of whose authority should be in charge. He the central government waited the Valencian Community, in charge of management, asked for help and it only happened last Saturday afternoon. The operation nevertheless remains in the hands of the Generalitat, although with the cooperation of seven ministries.
For citizens, this expectation was a government erroras reflected in the data from the Sociometrica survey. 59.9% of Valencians believe that the central government should have already mobilized its resources and taken control when the situation boiled over last Wednesday, compared to 38.8% who believe that the Generalitat should still be responsible.
Since Moncloa, they have argued that it was not operational remove the management of the disaster from the local authorities, who know the territory best, and goes so far as to suggest that the declaration of a state of national emergency would have caused a political conflict with the Generalitat and the result would have been even worse.
Last Saturday, the president’s famous statement was made: Pedro Sanchezin which he admitted that the response had not been “sufficient”. “If they needed more help let them ask“He urged Mazón.
There is no doubt that the government should have acted there faster and he should have sent the army to Valencia without the regional president demanding it, according to the Sociometrica investigation. This is what 76.2% of Valencians think, according to the survey.
Even 40% of PSOE voters and almost 60% of Sumar voters think that at that moment Sánchez was wrong.
The leader of the opposition, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, This Monday, for the first time publicly, he demanded that alert level 3 be activated, which would imply strip the autonomous government of their powers. In this case, central government would be responsible, with the Interior Ministry in charge.
Technical sheet
The study was carried out by the company SocioMétrica between November 3 and 4, 2024 through 1,712 random interviews extracted from its own panel of n=10,000 individuals representative of all Spanish socio-demographic segments.
The final results were finely adjusted using a weighting variable that takes into account gender, age, province and electoral memory during the last three elections.
Maximum error: 3% (SocioMétrica’s average deviation in voting in gen23 was 1.1% and in eu24 was 0.8%). No confidence level is applicable as this is non-probability sampling.
Study director: Gonzalo Adán. Doctor in political psychology and professor of psychometrics and social research techniques. SocioMétrica is a member of Insights + Analytics Spain.
