With the death toll in Dana rising to 223 at last count, the political battle between the government, the opposition and the Generalitat has not only not subsided, but has intensified over the past few hours in the aim of placing the greatest possible responsibility on the territory of the political rival and the minor himself.
For obvious reasons, the government focuses on what happened in the hours before the disaster, while the Generalitat Valenciana focuses on the hours following, those of the response after the disaster, as well as the failures of a prevention and alert system, which facts have shown can be greatly improved.
But this battle is not what interests Valencian citizens and those of the rest of Spain today. Because normality is very far from being restored in the affected cities and the search for the missing and the cleaning of the rubble are still underway, with no sign of an end soon.
EL ESPAÑOL believes that now is not the time for campaigns aimed at assigning political responsibilities or for debates on how, when and in what sense Civil protection services must be reformed in the face of disasters like this.
There will be time for this in the future.
Political leaders will eventually take responsibility, as is appropriate in a democracy with strong accountability systems, but also with a free press that will not hesitate to do its job and expose those who have not done it properly. Before, during and after the Dana. And these political leaders will respond, without a doubt, for their inactions, absences and alleged abandonment of functions.
Let no Spaniard doubt it.
But it is now urgent to rebuild the area affected by Dana and to regain civic normality as much as possible. And this is what the competent administrations must devote all their energy to..
It is infuriating to see the government, the Generalitat and the agencies and organizations involved in this type of emergency wasting time and devoting their efforts to instigating political battles or responding to information that leaks with interest from opposing political trenches.
The media cannot ignore what is happening on the political scene and stop reporting on the revelations that emerge from hour to hour. But they can demand that decision-makers realize what their priorities should be now.
No one can remain impassive against those who organize personal demolition campaigns to avoid their own responsibilities.
But the priority must be, now and in the weeks to come, the reconstruction of the Valencian Community. Because it is a national interest and the rest is only a passing political interest..
