The Minister of Defense, Marguerite Roblesindicated this Friday that more than 1,700 soldiers have already been deployed to help people affected by DANA and stressed that, “if necessary”, the 120,000 men and women who make up the army would do so. During an interview on TVE, Margarita Robles confirmed that since 8 a.m., 500 members of the armed forces from different regions of Spain began to deploy to the populations most affected by DANA.
More specifically, Robles explained that the 1,205 soldiers of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) who have worked from the start, with almost 400 vehicles, 15 helicopters and drones, 500 soldiers from the “Tercio de Armada” Marine Infantry Brigade, from San Fernando (Cádiz), will join them; from the Air Deployment Support Squadron (EADA), Zaragoza; of the Parachute Sapper Squadron (Ezapac), based in Alcantarilla (Murcia); Military Police Units of the Bétera Army; of the Cavalry Regiment No. 8 “Lusitania”, based in Marines (Valencia); Signal Regiment No. 21; Information Operations Regiment; and the “Zaragoza” Parachute Regiment No. 5.
In addition to these half a thousand soldiers from the three armies, Robles claimed that “We will integrate all those who are necessary according to needs”. The minister stressed that in addition to Utiel and Requena where the UME has been present since the beginning, “we will be in Ribarroja, in Paiporta, wherever necessary, without any limitation of means.”
“An absolute commitment”
The Minister of Defense stressed that “the commitment is absolute and total” on the part of the Armed Forces. “They are going to be in all the localities, with all the power that the army has, itwith the 120,000 men and women of the Army if necessarywith all material means following an order, following a plan,” he stressed.
On the other hand, he announced that a morgue had been deployed “divided into two spaces, one which will be at the Paterna Fair and the other at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Valencia”. Of course, Robles noted, teams of psychologists were also deployed. The missions that the military will face range from “helping to dig out people who may be in the basements or on the ground floor, which we unfortunately see are very numerous, and then we have to help drain the “water in many places to enable transportation, so that food and water can reach certain populations,” he explained.
Robles emphasized that “Very often, the roads are absolutely impassable” and therefore Army vehicles will make it possible to launch this logistics, even if they will encounter difficulties because there are “absolutely impassable” areas. Finally, the minister expressed her gratitude to “the Civil Guard, the local police, the national police, the Valencia firefighters, to so many people who work, but who cannot be reached because the tragedy has absolutely incredible limits “.
