It is the B side of the disaster, which allows us to verify, among the desolation of the cities attacked with the greatest severity by nature, that Andalusian solidarity transcends borders.
Since yesterday afternoon, he has been near Florida a contingent of emergency situation experts from SAMU Foundationdeployed to help rescue people and provide logistical support to repair damage caused by the Hurricane Milton in the field of Tampa.
It is made up of five volunteers, two from Seville, one from Cordoba, one from Malaga and one from Cádiz with links to Italy, among whom Health Emergency Technicians And Emergency and civil protection technicians. Some of them, students of the SAMU School, are preparing to face their first mission. International, to top it off.
The full weight of responsibility has not yet been felt because the children have been immersed in the final preparations before leaving for Ground Zero. While some were stocking up – up to 400 liters – others were loading food, personal effects, work materials and donations into their command post, where everything from workstations around from a monitor to a generator, including a microwave oven and a refrigerator.
“We will be without fuel or food supply capacity for several days and we cannot arrive by being a burden on the local population,” he explained yesterday from Brunswick (Georgia). Juan Gonzalez de la Escaladavice-president of SAMU and professional in charge of the operation, which also includes three Latin American technicians from First response from SAMU —the extension of the Society to the United States—and the staff of the Hope Project Organization.
The team will stay there until at least the 17th or 18th, although they hope it will be the first of many. “Our hope is to obtain funds to be able to send relief,” said de la Escalada, aware of all the work that remains to be done.
“We expect to find a lot of fallen trees and areas accessible to people with disabilities, just like what happened to us with Filomena in Madrid or with the cyclogenesis a year ago in Sevillewhile we had to cut down trees for several days,” he remembers. They are equipped with three electric saws and all types of pruning equipment.
A danger that always lurks
Some members of the operation, with coordinator Juan González de la Escalada (fourth from left)
The hurricane has passed, but the danger is still there. In a tree that must be felled or for the rescue of a person. Either because she is helpless in the water or because she is on a roof and unable to get off.
“We have a cabinet in Spain that is monitoring the situation and telling us where the areas we are heading are, because other small tornadoes are being generated,” the coordinator clarified, putting the information on the table. towns flooded by more than a meter“even two and a half”. To do this, they have a rescue zodiac.
“Moreover, our The Washington team “It specializes in social assistance, so we can offer a very multidisciplinary bouquet,” he concludes proudly.
Regarding the dizzying reaction capacitythis results from the confluence of several factors. The first, a regular flight to the United States before Milton, was a reality. The second, that the American SAMU team had just been formed during disasters because it was the era of tornadoes. The third, the time difference, which played in favor. All that remained was to gather the Andalusian volunteers who, faced with the facts, did not delay the decision to help others for long.
