The extraordinary catastrophe that struck the hearts of Valencians a week ago leaves behind extraordinary things as the days go by. Among them, since there are so many that it is difficult to summarize, the logistics center that citizens (in collaboration with different local institutions) managed to build at the Blasco Ibáñez de Benetúser public school (Valencia) . Yesterday, officers of the Spanish army entered their installations at the request of the volunteers, to ask them to take command of the place. “You built a castle”they transferred the people in charge of management until now.
At least three soldiers, as sources on site confirmed to this newspaper, entered this Tuesday and seemed stunned. know the internal workings of the place. For a few days after the flood, all kinds of supplies (water, food, clothing, cleaning products, etc.) have been stored and distributed there, a medical unit has been set up and firefighters and volunteers have spent the night working in the area. . They have a cleaning service to keep the place in good order, a kitchen to feed those who need it and they even provide psychological care to local residents.
Daily life is a coming and going of people and vans working tirelessly. From early morning until evening. An organization which allowed this commune of Horta Sud move faster than others like Paiporta, Masanasa or Catarroja after the tragedy. This is also due to the proximity to the center of Valencia, which allowed citizen collaboration to act earlier in this area and not in others further south in the region. However, all continue to have entire neighborhoods living among garbage and mud, busy evacuating people from all regions of Spain, with a palpable lack of coordination.
“They were surprised,” say the volunteers of the Blasco Ibáñez school after the visit of the army officers, who took a card from Benetúser. They hope to give an answer, on the possibility of taking control of the place today.although various issues concern them, such as the lack of skills to manage the entry and exit of vans.
From what they told those responsible for the center, they cannot do this sorting, which is essential for the supply not only of Benetúser, since from there Aid also reaches other destroyed municipalities in Horta Sud like Paiporta, Alfafar, Masanasa or Catarroja. In fact, they cannot tell anyone where to go or prohibit passage, because they do not have police powers in civilian space.
This currently corresponds to state security forces and agencies, such as the National Police and the Civil Guard. Yes, they could take care of this problem if an alarm state is declared.as happened with the covid pandemic.
