The Generalitat Valenciana denies Attacks on Moncloa against his management of DANA. “The Government could have perfectly and legally taken command by declaring emergency situation 3, and it did not do so,” affirms the Regional Executive.
The president’s team Carlos Mazon (PP) responds to accusations made by sources in the Central Executive, who hold the Generalitat responsible for the serious consequences of the enormous storm.
The floods surprised citizens on Tuesday afternoon and caused hundreds of deaths in the province of Valencia.
One of the criticisms is that the Autonomous Administration did not request emergency “situation 3”, the greatest of all, the considered a “national emergency”.
According to the guide to Ministry of the Interiorthis situation is decreed by the Government “on its own initiative or at the request of the Autonomous Communities concerned or the Government delegates within them”, according to the Generalitat, which emphasizes that The phenomenon affected several autonomya circumstance that allowed the government to carry out a joint operation.
“The national interest is considered to be at stake,” the manual states. “The emergency director is the Minister of the Interior himself and The UME assumes operational management of the emergency under its direction“, he explains.
In this regard, the Generalitat Valenciana emphasizes that “the government could have perfectly and legally taken command by declaring the emergency situation 3, and it did not do so because it acted correctly and within the deadlines planned”. CECOPI (Integrated Operational Coordination Center)“.
“If the government considered declaring a state of national emergency and did not do so, it is because it did not consider the situation serious enough to take control of it. In fact, two days later, sent two ministers and the army, which de facto recognizes that we are facing a situation 3but without officially admitting it”, affirm the sources consulted from the Generalitat Valenciana.
“The Generalitat has not requested the move to situation 3, it is true, but the Government can make this decision itself, without the autonomous community concerned needing to request it. The move to situation 3 can be requested even by the Government Delegation if we wish,” they conclude.
EMU
Another criticism of the Generalitat is the slowness in requesting the intervention of the Military Emergency Unit (UME). “It’s false,” they say bluntly.
“Tuesday at 3 p.m., the Ministry of Justice and the Interior asked the Government Delegation to intervene through the Military Emergency Unit (UME),” they indicated, adding that the central government immediately recognized this.
In fact, according to the Generalitat, “the government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabésends a tweet dated October 29 at 3:21 p.m., in which he declares having received the request from the GVA. [Generalitat Valenciana] to activate the UME and support the resources of the GVA in the face of the situation caused by DANA in Utiel”, they underline.
“Desde el Gobierno de España atendemos la petición y colaboramos con ellos ante la emergencia provocada por la DANA en Utiel”, dijo la mandataria.
Por tanto, agregan, “no es verdad lo que relata el ministro de Política Territorial, Ángel Víctor Torres, cuando afirmó en rueda de prensa el miércoles por la tarde que, a las 20.36, la Generalitat Valenciana solicitó la intervención de la UME (Unidad Militar de Emergencias)”. “La solicitud, confirmada por la delegada del Gobierno, es de cinco horas y media antes, de las 15 horas”, insisten.
La ES-Alert
Otro foco de críticas hacia el Gobierno de Mazón es que la alerta masiva a los teléfonos móviles vía radio, que se ha utilizado por primera vez en la Comunitat Valenciana con esta catástrofe, no se utilizara hasta pasadas las 20.00 horas, cuando las inundaciones ya se estaban produciendo.
Ese mensaje “se manda en el seno del CECOPI [Centro de Coordinación Operativa Integrada], prior consensus and agreement of all agents and administrations involved“, who consider that the conditions were met to send a message of this type to the population”, they argue. And they emphasize that in this body, which met at 5 p.m., “the Government delegate was there”.
The decision to activate ES-Alert, as they point out, “rests with the Civil Protection authorities, who assess the seriousness of the situation and the risk for the population.” “The criteria for its activation include: the scale of the threat, the geographical area affected, the time available to react and the possible consequences for public safety,” they specify.
It is, according to the Generalitat, the decision of a technical organization in which all public administrations participate. “It is agreed with the Government Delegation, firefighters, emergency services and all other entities and organizations when all the information is available and truthful,” they emphasize.
It is obvious that he arrived late, when the catastrophe was not a threat but a reality. But the Generalitat hides behind the fact that the decision is made by an organization in which the Government also participates and in which “the emergency technicians and the Provincial Consortium of Firefighters ensure that Alert protocols and warnings to the population were respected“.
Review timeline
The Generalitat emphasizes that this new system is by no means the only means of communication with the population and offers a chronology of warnings issued before the disaster.
Recall that the warnings have been issued since Sunday and that on Monday, at noon, the Generalitat had already issued an alert on the possibility of rain, flooding, with particular attention to rivers and ravines. At 3:00 p.m., he took it to the orange level.
Tuesday at 7:45 a.m., the day of the floods, the Generalitat decreed and communicated the red alert in the province of Valencia “in accordance with the protocols established by the Government and according to information from AEMET and CHJ (Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar)”.
At 11:30 a.m., he declared and communicated a state of emergency in the Poyo ravine, in the Magro river, in Utiel and in the Ribera Alta. From midday, rivers and ravines overflow. The water destroyed many Valencian towns in its path.
“A message was sent in the afternoon at 8:00 p.m., but not as an early warning, but only as a single element of communication. This was when it was recommended by the security forces and organizations and the security services. relief”, they claim in the controversial mobile message.
“This has been communicated through all available channels since Sunday and a red alert was declared on Monday afternoon,” they insist, stressing that “fundamental rights (mobility, work, etc.) could not be restricted since it there was no state of alarm declared. , this would correspond to the Government”.
