Citizen indignation was at its highest level this Sunday, during the institutional visit made to Paiporta by the kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Letizia, the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, and the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazon.
The reaction is mainly due to two reasons. The first and main, the delay in the alert issued by the Emergency Department of the Generalitat on Tuesday, October 29, which reached citizens’ cell phones after 8:00 p.m., when thousands of people were already stuck in garages, roads or basements, after the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) issued a red level warning due to torrential rains, which implies a recommendation to limit the mobility of citizens. A recommendation that reached citizens’ cell phones 12 hours later.
The second cause of citizen indignation is the disastrous management carried out by the Valencian Government, through the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI), in terms of organization and availability of material and human resources to carry out the cleaning tasks. . Beyond the fact that the President of the Valencian Government, Carlos Mazón, is the one who alone holds command of the management of the crisis as head of CECOPI, the image that has been transmitted to citizens of lack of coordination with the government of Pedro Sánchez and even the politicization of the tragedy to avoid responsibilities have only fueled the discontent of citizens who do not understand the powers when they request personnel, but understand the facts. And the fact is that the little progress made during these five days is due more to the involvement of the thousands of volunteers who devoted themselves to cleaning tasks than to what was provided by the means of the administrations.
Aldaïa
Samuel Romero is a resident of Aldaia and as he explains, progress has been made in this town, especially between this Saturday and Sunday: “Other heavy machines arrived to remove cars, furniture and appliances appliances that people are taking out of homes and businesses. and leaving the street behind him. Now there is a little more movement, firefighters from other provinces and the military have come, a little light is starting to appear, but there is still a lot left. For example, I live on the third floor and I started having electricity before yesterday, Saturday, but the water is not coming due to lack of pressure and I went with my wife and my two children to my in-law’s house. family, which, being a ground floor and “the first height that the water reaches”.
According to Romero, “the feeling is that of fear because people do not know what will happen to their lives tomorrow, there are many businesses and businesses that need to be reactivated, damage assessment and compensation must be rapid because people have lost it.” . “everything and he doesn’t know how he’s going to be able to move forward.” In addition, this opens up a reflection on climate change: “We continue to ignore it, having systems of orchards and forests which serve as a filter for urbanization and roads which ultimately multiply the speed of water and therefore its impact. “.
The mayor of Aldaia, the socialist Guillermo Luján, insists that more help is needed and that bilge pumps are also needed to evacuate the water from the various garages and trucks to remove all the belongings that neighbors remove from the streets with the goal is to start washing and cleaning.
Catarroja
The mayor, Lorena Silvent, of the PSPV, assures that the situation “is still at its limit, on full alert, because there is still a lot of work to do”. According to Silvent, on Sunday evening the first army troops began to arrive and he hopes with this they can start cleaning the streets of destroyed cars: “We need machines and coordination. The UME has installed two mobile antennas to restore telecommunications and we have two mobile points and as many fixed points to supply the population with food, particularly hot meals, but also bottled water. “In some cases, running water still does not reach high-rise houses. »
In principle, the entire population was able to leave their homes. The last two cases of people locked up because their access was blocked were detected this Sunday, so they were released. Silvent comments that these are “two older women who were locked up for five days, even though they were fine because they were supportive.” In this sense, he comments that they have designed a system whereby, when a neighbor needs it, they must hang a white sheet in their window or on their terrace as a warning. He also comments that they have equipped drones with loudspeakers to be able to inform residents whose streets remain blocked from the sides. The first mayor insists that at present they need bilge pumps to be able to empty the garages, remove the mud and carry out the examination of the architectural structure of the buildings. Additionally, it states that they have suspended the collection of taxes, fees or embargoes.
Paiporta
MP is a resident of Xúquer de Paiporta square and assures that a week later it is practically the same as the first day: “The streets are scary, there is more and more garbage. The garages are still flooded and if people are stuck, they will still be there. Between that, the trash, the mud and the stagnant water, the smell is starting to get unbearable, getting worse and worse. As the infections start, which they surely will, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
This resident also comments that “elderly or dependent people cannot leave their homes because they do not have an elevator or because it is impossible to move between trash cans and cars, there is even a lot of cars blocking houses and neighbors can’t get out, for example.” in Calle 1 de Mayo, where we can no longer take the waste out of the ground floor because it doesn’t fit, because they didn’t take it.
Furthermore, he assures that there are still many people who do not have water, electricity or gas: “I have had it since Sunday November 3, but many people still do not have access. ‘supply. Above all, the central area of the city is a chaos, consisting only of low houses, pedestrian streets, a cemetery of cars, garbage and people, because many people died in these streets. Other neighbors consulted denounce that the buses which have been placed every 20 minutes at the Paiporta exit, next to the Civil Guard barracks, in addition to being insufficient, are too far from an important part of the city now impossible to cross, therefore requiring solutions from the mayor.
The first mayor of Paiporta, Maribel Albalat, of the PSPV, said on Sunday that “more machines were needed to clean the streets, complete the removal of corpses and offer more resources.”
Sedavi
In Sedaví, the situation is a little more advanced. This is confirmed by MA, a resident of the city, who comments that between this Sunday and Monday certain streets began to be cleared of cars and debris using tractors: “Thanks to the arrival of the troops who arrived, many volunteers, the cars were removed. We have electricity, but in some areas there is only water at night and at the moment we have no gas; Coverage and internet come and go. Concerning food and cleaning, we have two collection points at the institute and the sports center. Boots and push brooms are the most popular products to continue removing mud. Now they are starting to drain water from the garages and that same water helps clean the mud.
On the other hand, he regrets that they are not “served by public transport and accessibility by car is very limited, even the neighbors had difficulty getting through and then the elderly sometimes need oxygen than the firefighters lent them” and he adds. that this Monday arrived in San Antonio Street the International Natural Disaster Relief Group, made up of firefighters, surveyors and doctors from all over Spain who have traveled the world: “They asked the neighbors for forgiveness for their Arrived late and they told us so. who were ready to come since last Wednesday. “I started crying because it seems very unfair, if they had arrived earlier someone could have been found alive.”
The mayor, José Cabanes, of the PSPV, said that these days there is a little more progress in cleaning tasks and in opening access to the city, but that it is still expensive: “We We also need to clean the sewer because throwing mud can also clog it.
