The “president” of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, tried this Wednesday to shift responsibility for the delay in sending the DANA automatic alert to the central government. However, the current regional law on civil protection and emergency management is very clear: the Consell is the “higher management and coordination body” for emergency response. The “single command” corresponds to the Minister of Justice and the Interior, Salomé Pradas. However, as indicated in an article incorporated into the law in 2020, in a catastrophic situation, the “president” can assume “exclusive command and direction of all emergency activities, placing under his direct dependence the organizational structure of the territorial emergency plan”. of the Valencian Community”.
In fact, as a senior Consell official confirmed to elDiario.es, Carlos Mazón took command during the creation of the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) on Tuesday afternoon. “The question,” explains a source close to regional emergency management, “is why [la consellera Salomé Pradas] “Cecopi called at five in the afternoon when there were already deaths in Utiel and AEMET had been warning of the situation for 48 hours.” The same source considers that the management of the Executive of Mazón has been “horrible”.
The head of the Consell assured that the automatic notice “Es-alert” (the alert that arrives at 8:12 p.m. on all cell phones in the province of Valencia) obeys a “previously established protocol and which is also coordinated by the management general civil protection of the Spanish government The Ministry of the Interior denied the Valencian president and assured that “territorial Civil Protection plans” are an autonomous competence.
The automatic alert has a protocol, but can be launched when those responsible for coordinating the emergency response deem it appropriate. Of course, without consulting the central government. The late sending of the alert led to a collapse of the response to DANA, leaving thousands of residents and drivers in the province of Valencia uncovered to the explosive weather phenomenon.
Although all Consell services are involved by law in responding to catastrophic events (each in its area of responsibility), direct and operational responsibility for management lies with the Ministry of Justice and Interior and, more specifically , to Emilio Argüeso. , director of the Valencian Security and Emergency Response Agency, with the rank of regional secretary. However, with Mazón taking command, the focus shifts to the head of the Consell. The head of the single command, according to regional regulations, is responsible for “declaring the emergency levels, phases or situations established in the civil protection plans and procedures”.
Lack of coordination and command
In the absence of a definitive assessment of the victims, the chaotic response of the regional executive of the PP to the tragedy – the worst since the floods of 1957 – indicates, according to many observers, a lack of coordination and command. While the Generalitat Valenciana remained in a sort of waiting state for practically all of Tuesday afternoon, the Provincial Delegation of Valencia, led by Vicente Mompó, closed its work centers six hours before the automatic alert sent at 8:12 p.m.
Outside of the Mazón government, few voices defend the management of the response to DANA. At the municipal level, anger is intense. Lorena Silvent, socialist mayor of Catarroja, denounced this Thursday that “sufficient resources from the Generalitat” had not reached the city. “They are not up to the needs in Catarroja in a critical moment like this,” adds Silvent.
The Algemesí City Hall, led by the popular José Javier Sanchis, regretted this Wednesday that it had “at no time received any information, updates or monitoring of the flow of the river or the Forata reservoir.” “For this reason, it was not possible to inform citizens of their developments,” he added in a post on Instagram.
