Like so many mayors of Valencian municipalities devastated by floods, José Javier Sanchis (PP) has since Tuesday been coordinating the response to the historic DANA disaster which left three people dead in Algemesí. Eight days later, mud continues to cover many houses and basements are destroyed. To walk the streets of this town of around 27,500 inhabitants, you still have to avoid mountains of debris and vehicles. The wave of solidarity helps ease concerns about an uncertain future. — What are the main needs now? We urgently need reinforcement of cranes and heavy machinery that arrive in an organized manner with dump trucks to load waste. have sufficient resources been deployed? — We’re talking about tons of property destroyed all over the streets. EMU troops were deployed two days after the tragedy, in the face of great chaos. There are 180 people on one side, around 30 from the army and the volunteer team. But in reality, the effective working days are three or four, because the first priority was to respond to health emergencies or guarantee access to the population. — Do you feel protected? Have you received calls from higher administrations these days? — I received calls from all administrations. I felt psychologically supported. This support is appreciated.—Have you received notification from the Government or the Generalitat regarding the overflowing of the river?—Tuesday noon it was waiting on a bridge over the Magro river because it was very loaded, but without worrying us. . With excavators, we removed the accumulation of reeds that came down the river and blocked the bridge. While I was there, I received a call from the Government Delegation of the Valencian Community telling me that they were paying attention to the forecasts, that it seemed that there was a core that was going to be reactivated, that They were attentive to the river. I asked if I should issue a warning to the population. They told me they were going to have a coordination meeting and then they told me something. I never received this call. We had to earn a living and, given the torrential rains, we requested that activity in the polygons cease at five in the afternoon. This probably avoided many problems in areas of heavy flooding. Nor did anyone tell us that they were going to empty the Forata reservoir of water. — Former mayor Marta Trenzano claims that she was called by mistake from the Generalitat to warn her of the situation at 7:30 a.m. — I don’t know. I don’t know, but he didn’t forward the message to me either.Related News Standard No The first official data places the number of people missing by DANA in Valencia at 89, not counting unreported cases Alberto Caparrós Forensic experts have already carried out autopsies on 195 bodies, of which 62 remain to be identified. Do you agree with the mayor of Paiporta that a “supramunicipal authority” should ensure coordination? – I completely agree with her. Municipal resources are absolutely insufficient and we have lost many people in the floods. There are higher administrations who come to the site, set up a tent and say “forward command post”. And from there, everything is coordinated. But here we manage with the support of the UME, which behaves very well with us. — How do you evaluate the management that was done from higher levels? — It is obvious that things have failed, when the communication skills are so great. great . There were serious mistakes that could have been avoided. This would have allowed us to react very quickly and avoid dramatic situations. We can’t pass the buck, saying that if you need help, you have to ask for it. Spain sees how Algemesí is doing and, without asking for it, help comes from outside the administrations. We must not be unfair, also on the part of the surrounding town halls and the Provincial Council. I don’t need to ask the Spanish government or the Generalitat to send me machines, because they know I need them. Let them move. It is necessary to know if the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, which depends on the ministry, did what it had to do to warn of this relief of water in the elevated areas which would increase the flow. Afterwards, it will be necessary to assess how the emergency was managed. — How are they coping with what is coming? — We have enough equipment to get by. But we are facing a very difficult season and we even source our supplies from the warehouses that other sites make available to us. The production of the fields has been lost, there are people who will not be able to work, it will take time for the children to be able to return to school… There are ground floors where there is no longer any nothing and we will help the neighbors as much as possible to relieve them financially.
