A week after the devastating and historic floods that devastated the southeast of Spain, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced, on Tuesday, November 5, a first emergency plan of 10.6 billion euros to help affected residents and businesses. . “It is a good first step, an agile step”defended the socialist leader, revealing a series of aid for the victims of the catastrophe, but also for the affected local authorities.
This package includes direct aid and tax relief for companies and individuals. This aid will benefit “65,000 self-employed workers” and approximately “30,000 companies”Sánchez detailed. The Prime Minister also announced a credit line of 5 billion euros for SMEs, the self-employed and families, based on a model “very similar to what was done during the pandemic”according to the head of government.
The executive, who on Tuesday officially declared a state of natural disaster in the affected areas, also promised to take charge “100%” Urgent expenses incurred by municipalities to help their citizens and clean the streets.
The “neighbors” are still missing
The human cost caused by the bad weather amounts to 218 deaths: 214 in the Valencian Community alone, three in Castilla-La Mancha and one in Andalusia. The priority continues to be the location of the missing, whose exact number has never been communicated. The authorities are especially concerned about the situation in many underground car parks, which are completely flooded and have not yet been fully inspected.
In recent days, personnel from military emergency units responding to natural disasters have installed numerous pumps to evacuate water. On Monday morning, divers managed to penetrate the underground parking lot of Bonaire, a large shopping center in Aldaia, a town of 31,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of Valencia. With a capacity of 5,700 seats, almost half of which are underground, it raised many concerns. But so far, emergency services have not found any bodies there.
In Picaña, near Valencia, “neighbors” They are still missing, stressed the mayor, Josep Almenar, who, a week after the catastrophe, continues searching “Take the garbage out of the city, take out the cars”. In Paiporta, a town located on the outskirts of Valencia and considered the epicenter of the disaster, elected officials demand professional equipment to remove the hundreds of cars overturned on the roads. “We need machines, professionals to come and clean the streets, to empty them, so that people can take care of their homes.”implored the mayor, Maribel Albalat, on the public channel TVE.
Electricity restored to 98% of homes
Pedro Sánchez assured on Tuesday that he had doubled the number of military and police officers deployed on the ground in three days, reaching almost 15,000. They are supported by 287 forest guards, a hundred customs agents and 44 forensic doctors, Pedro Sánchez listed again. , also evoking “600 vehicles and specialized machines for pumping, cleaning and supplying affected areas”.
Mr. Sánchez explained that “This massive deployment, both human and technical, allowed 1,300 rescue operations to be carried out”. “It also supported local authorities and the population in tasks such as removing vehicles and debris or inspecting garages and distributed 95,000 liters of water”he added.
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According to the Prime Minister, 98% of the affected households were able to recover their electricity and 68% their telephone line. Forty kilometers of roads and 74 kilometers of railways have also been repaired, he assured.
Beyond the emergency measures, Pedro Sánchez assured that the Government is working on a long-term plan for the region, which includes a “reconstruction” affected areas, but also a plan to “transformation”judge ” necessary “ adapt the region to “the climate emergency”. The authorities have not yet given a global figure on the cost of this catastrophe. But all economic actors say they expect an astronomical bill. “We are going to face the most important catastrophe that Spain has ever known due to climate catastrophe”insisted the president of the Unespa insurance federation, Mirenchu del Valle.
