The solidarity convoy I did not have permission to upload to Catarrojabut that didn’t matter to them because they decided to dump hundreds of kilos of clothes at the Repsol gas station from Avenida Rey Jaime I, to return home with a clear conscience for having helped DANA. The problem is that the gas station has collapsed, creating a new headache in a town devastated by floods.
“They covered the pumps and could not be used temporarily, to provide emergency vehicles and machines that work on cleaning the streets”, laments a member of the coordination team at the Catarroja-Albal command post in conversation with EL ESPAÑOL. This situation is not an isolated event: the number of donations and volunteers is so “overwhelming” that “it is starting to be a problem for certain cities, if this aid is not well managed at the source”.
Collapse of donations in Catarroja
In this graphic way, this member of the Catarroja-Albal command post summarizes the situation: two cities that are part of DANA’s zero point. “As volunteers work Monday to Friday, Thousands of people arrive in the cities on weekends and this labor force hinders us. “There are so many people on the streets that there is a real risk of being run over, which is why heavy machinery was unable to clean the streets last weekend.”
The same “collapse” occurs with donations: “At present, in Catarroja and Albal, there is no longer any need for bottles of water, nor diapers of milk, nor food nor clothing, because We have products stored to fill three entire Mercadona supermarkets. “The official storage logistics centers are full and we are turning to businesses and educational centers to store.”
This member of the logistics and coordination team The forward command post of Catarroja-Albal provides EL ESPAÑOL with a video of the gas station collapsed due to clothing, to illustrate the difficult panorama they face from Friday to Sunday.
“The problem is at the origin. People should contact local councils firstto the local police or the EMU, to notify that they are going to go up to clean, to see if there is really a need for labor in the town in question, or to notify that they are going to send a shipment of products, to know what is needed in each city”.
Otherwise, surreal situations arise, such as those that have occurred in recent days, when “two buses with volunteers from Jaén” were installed in Catarroja, “without notice”when there was no need for more personnel on foot and with brooms in the streets. “We didn’t even know where to put the buses so they could park,” as he illustrates. ““It’s impossible to stop people, but it can’t happen again.”
In fact, last weekend several accesses to Catarroja collapsed, which prevented the passage of businessmen and independents who were voluntarily trying to reach the village with cranes, to remove the destroyed cars , or with heavy machinery, to help remove mud. in the streets. “They spend a fortune and now they are angry because they are not allowed to work.“, as this member of the logistics and volunteer coordination team warns.
“There are people who spend thousands of euros to move heavy machinery and who are outraged because they cannot work, because the risk is real of knocking over a volunteer, but It is more important that these machines operate in such a way that the mud and mud on the streets does not solidify, long before the voluntary work with brooms and shovels”, as he explains didactically. “We had to close some roads with the local police monitoring the work of the machines.”
A wave of volunteers who spontaneously head on foot from Valencia towards Paiporta.
Local police officers are voluntarily mobilized to Catarroja or Albal; they also had to monitor shipments of clothing, milk and other necessities because they were not needed, but truck or van drivers unloaded them to take them back to their place of origin. “They unloaded trailers in open fields, at roundabouts or at gas stationsdespite the fact that truck drivers in Bilbao or Seville were told that at that time we did not need help.
This cargo therefore becomes a solved problem. “Clothing and food products that come into contact with the mud that carries leftover wastewater or with lithium from car batteries cannot be taken away by the population because may pose a public health problem. It must therefore be kept with the police until it is removed. » In practice, an additional problem arises when the priority is to clean the streets.
“At times we are devastated for volunteering and donations that arrive without notice. We are grateful for so much solidarity and this will be necessary in the weeks to come, but they must warn before doing anything on their own,” insists this member of the association’s logistics and coordination team. Catarroja-Albal forward command post. “We must publicly send a message to the whole of Spanish society on how to manage humanitarian aid that arrives in an uncontrolled manner and causes serious problems in reception centers and distribution of food and clothing.
“It is necessary that it continues to be collected at origin, but that this merchandise is selected, classified, sorted, palletized and stored at origin, so that when it is requested at destination it does not generate problems as until now, for “do not interfere with cleaning work with other tasks that can be solved at source.”
In fact, currently, in Catarroja and Albal What they need are volunteer plumbers and plumbing supplies. to unclog pipes and prevent sewage leaks in buildings and public centers, as well as volunteer electricians with equipment and tools to restore lighting to several streets in both cities.
