The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazoncriticized the Government of Spain only if he knew the information of the risk of the rupture of the Forata dam since 5:30 p.m. will not take any decision or alert the population via DANA.
Mazón criticizes the inaction of the executive of Pedro Sánchez while the lives of 80,000 people were in danger. “The Spanish Government was represented at CECOPIwho met on the afternoon of October 29, and had the full capacity to take command at any time if he knew that from 5:30 p.m. there was a risk of the dam breaking,” said the president, who regretted “being able to act, they did absolutely nothing for three hours under the pretext of waiting for the president of the Generalitat.
Mazón is not part of CECOPI and his presence is not necessary to make an executive decision.
The President of the Generalitat asks for it to be clarified if the Ministry of Ecological Transition was aware of the information and delayed it until 8 p.m., when the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hugo Morancalled the Minister of the Interior, Salome Pradas, warning of the imminent risk of breakage.
“It is a fact of the utmost importance that the Government must clarify. It is very serious that they knew that the dam could break without doing absolutely anything to alert the population even though they had the capacity to do so,” Mazón stressed.
CECOPI “was not suspended at any time”
In this intersection of denials and reproaches between the two administrations, the Department of Justice and the Interior assured this Saturday that the CECOPI premiered at 5:00 p.m. on October 29 and was not suspended at no time during the afternoon or night did he manage the rains and floods that were occurring in the province of Valencia.
Its owner, Salome Pradasconvened a CECOPI training at 5:00 p.m. at the Eliana Emergency Coordination Center, in which the organizations that are part of this operational center participated, either in person or via telematics.
Some representatives of the organizations connected by videoconference were those who belonged to the AEMETAt Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar and the Delegation of the Government in the Valencian Community, among others.
Given the criticism made by AEMET sources that CECOPI was suspended from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., the ministry claims that it is false that it was interrupted and that it remained active during all this time. The people who were in person at the Autonomous Coordination Center carried out a permanent surveillance and continuous collection of data and information.
The Department is qualified as amazing that precisely one of the entities which was not physically present at the Eliana Center dared to say that CECOPI was suspended while the seriousness of the situation was taken into account at all times.
From 6:00 p.m., CECOPI was managing the situation at the Forata dam. From the Emergencies, the notice was sent to the municipalities affected by the possible failure of the dam and it remained fluid contact with the Hydrographic Confederation of Júcar, analyzing the evolution of the Forata Dam and predicting the scenarios that could arise.
The ministry urges AEMET to respect its competences and disseminate information that meets the rigor required by the management of the worst natural disaster that has devastated the Valencian Community.
