This DANA is already the most dramatic tragedy in the democratic history of Spain. There are over two hundred deaths: 202. Although this is only the number of localized deaths, so the figure could be higher. It is not even possible to have an official number of missing people. And in the middle of this whirlwind, survivors continue to wait for help which does not arrive. Thousands of people who woke up again without electricity, without water, without food, without gas, without blanket, without internet, without toilets… People who haven’t seen a uniform for 72 hours. Neighbors who ask themselves: where is the State? Citizens convinced that the Generalitat and the central government can do much better.
Nails 252,000 people from the area most damaged by the storm in Spain, the province of Valencia (east), They continue without a telephone line And 15,000 people still do not have electricitywhile some roads have started to clear and several train lines will be open for essential travel. However, the rail link between Valencia and Madrid, the high-speed train, will take “at most” fifteen days to be operational, because one of the two tunnels concerned must be reconstructed, as explained by the Spanish Minister of Transport, Oscar. Puente.
On the fifth day of the disaster, which has so far claimed more than 200 lives, Puente also indicated that the government had approved 13 million euros to “urgently” restore the A7 highway, which runs along the eastern coast of Spain and which was destroyed. is blocked and impossible to cross. “The work started yesterday, we can’t go any faster”said the minister, who stressed that the situation is “extremely serious”, with 80 kilometers of the state’s road network affected by the storm.
The company Iberdrolafor his part, electricity supply has been restored to 90% of the population who found themselves without electricity due to heavy rains. For its part, the Spanish Ministry of Labor, led by Yolanda Díaz, announced that companies affected by the storm can request a temporary work regulation file (ERTE) for force majeure, a tool that incorporates the latest labor reform for catastrophic situations. These ERTEs allow the temporary suspension of the employment contract or the reduction of the working day of workers, who can benefit from protection against unemployment without the compensation being consumed.
Meanwhile, large Spanish companies continue to mobilize, such as Repsol, which has made equipment (ambulances, water extraction pumps, generators, trucks, cranes) available to the authorities of industrial complexes near the areas affected, as well as emergency professionals. and rescue. Furthermore, in stations Repsol service provides fuel for free to members of the security and emergency forces, as well as to Tragsa, a public company responsible for repairing infrastructure.
Transporters have also organized themselves to help voluntarily with the transfer of essential products and in the removal of vehicles from the most damaged areas. The devastating storm that hit eastern Spain with force on Tuesday and for the rest of this week has left 205 dead so far, 202 only in the autonomous community of Valencia, two in Castile-La Mancha and one in Andalusia, according to the Center. Emergency Department of the Regional Government of Valencia. This is still provisional data, as the process of collecting and identifying bodies continues and many people are still missing. The storm continues, so the emergency situation has not subsided, with floods that have placed this episode as one of the most serious and heartbreaking natural disasters in the history of Spain.
