The forward command post that coordinates emergency work to treat those affected by DANA resembles a war zone. Covered in mud, dozens of members of the state security forces run from one place to another to respond to multiple demands. Telephones and walkies They don’t stop ringing: from new victims to people still alive, from volunteers who want to collaborate, from mayors who call for troops in specific areas. A call for food donations is followed by the communication of a rescue or the arrest of a group of vandals, a request for help or a simple protocol consultation.
At a gas station on the outskirts of Paiporta, the different units of the Civil Guard, local police from a dozen municipalities, Civil Protection, firefighters, health workers, the Military Emergency Unit meet and the National Police. There, the care of the injured, the transport of medicines, the areas where living people are located and the sending of machines to clear certain roads are managed.
The work is particularly complicated: the mud carries countless materials, there are spills, piled up vehicles that must be removed to access the other side of the street, collapsed bridges… At noon, moreover in addition heavy machinery begins to arrive, tractors, trailers and other mechanisms to remove obstacles. On the other hand, neighbors organize themselves as best they can to try to help their fellow citizens.
Emergency crews have been working around the clock since Tuesday afternoon. On Thursday, they continue to evacuate alive people trapped in houses on the ground floor or in certain garages. In the last few hours, the UME has devoted itself to distributing oxygen bottles – each bottle weighing 80 kilos –, cleaning houses, transporting medicine to inaccessible places and even hospitalizing women pregnant women who gave birth during the disaster. “Yesterday we took a bus with doctors from La Fe, who we took to different municipalities for people who needed care, and on the way back we brought back the sick who had to go to the hospital,” explains one member of the UME.
Another explains how his colleagues transported elderly people from affected residences, loaded them into vehicles and transported them to health centers. Currently, the death toll exceeds 150 and survivors are arriving by the dozens. There are also agents with neoprene suits to access flooded areas, others who improvise any vehicle to transport oxygen; They are constantly reorganized to meet needs.
Rescues continue to take place days later. “We evacuated the people who had been stuck for 36 hours,” said a soldier, who said that “they had stayed in the cupboards all night until the water subsided.” The rescued people are transferred to the field hospital to receive first aid, and then, if necessary, they go to the hospital. The makeshift health center also serves people who need treatment, with the municipal health center virtually inoperable. There is a psychologist and volunteers who study medicine and who assist those with minor injuries.
“It’s better to help than stay on the couch at home,” says another soldier who came as a volunteer. “A lot of people come and offer themselves, but without experience it’s more dangerous,” he explains. This is the paradox of volunteering: many people try to help and the few access roads collapse or get injured while clearing debris. A man arrives at the command post with a sprain following a slip at home, another with a head injury caused in the same way.
The security forces map the areas in which they intervene, mark the roads which are clear, those which are blocked, the places in which they have entered… The operation constantly multiplies the questions and requests: the research unit canine requires accompaniment to ‘paint the river, medical transport needs someone to lead the way. There are also volunteer doctors who treat or try to access homes where people are stuck, but, they regret, there are still areas where it is impossible to monitor.
The regional secretary of Emergencies, Emilio Argüeso, on Wednesday moved his department to Operation Paiporta, Ground Zero. Disappeared publicly – without giving press conferences – he attends CECOPI meetings electronically, then goes to center 112 of the Eliana, where the team of the President of the Generalitat and the Ministry of Justice are located . When asked why he is in Paiporta and not in his ministry, he replies: “I moved the regional secretariat to Paiporta to be on the ground.” He is the only public official here, the entire political command operates from 112 offices. He periodically speaks with mayors who need help, who in press statements declare that they are abandoned. All communications were centralized by the Presidency of the Generalitat. The first thing they did this morning was to ask the municipalities to locate open fields to remove cars removed from the roads, to talk to the insurance center to provide information to users, a meeting between local police chiefs from ‘Horta Sud to coordinate troops and actions, Argüeso said.
At the end of the afternoon, the exhausted agents continued to send troops and coordinate operations. Some are going through a very bad psychological time, with no news from their families from Tuesday to Thursday noon. “It’s hard to lift rubble without saving your family,” explains one of them. On Friday, other operations are expected: local police officers from other municipalities, material reinforcements, more military units. It will take them more than two weeks to clean up the area, and they still hope they can continue to help more people.
