“The government will mobilize all the necessary resources as long as it takes to help those affected by the damage caused by DANA in the Valencian Community.” This was stated by the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezduring his appearance this Saturday, in which he speaks of this storm as “the biggest natural disaster in the history of Spain“It is already the second flood which has caused the most victims in Europe since the beginning of this century,” he said.
This is why they are going to make available to the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos MazonTHE 5,000 soldiers requested in recent hours. A deployment which, as Pedro Sánchez announced, will be carried out “immediately”. “They will arrive today and tomorrow (Sunday) first thing, the remaining 1,000,” he promised in this press release.
It will also display a navy ship equipped with “accommodations, operating rooms, helicopters and fleet of support vehicles”who should arrive in Valencia in the “next few hours”; as well as 5,000 additional police officers and civil guards, meaning “double” the number of those already sent to add a total of “10,000 troops”.
The Government assists the regional authorities “in everything that is asked of them” and acts on the ground with “clear priorities”: “Saving lives”, underlined the president, who reports that in In just 48 hours, they sent 2,500 soldiers, 1,800 national police officers and 2,700 civil guards”. These troops are supported by some “400 soldiers, satellite equipment and a fleet of specialized vehicles, drones and boats”, he reports.
“This is the largest deployment of members of the armed forces to our country in peacetime.“reports Pedro Sanchez. A deployment which made it possible to carry out “4,800 rescues and help 30,000 people”.
The President of the Government is aware that, “unfortunately”, the scale of this natural disaster makes troop numbers “insufficient” and regrets that aid is slow to reach “many points”. Even though four days have passed since the start of the storm, the truth is that there are still inaccessible municipalities and “blocked houses”.
“The central government is ready to help. If (Mazón) needs more resources, he should ask for them. There is no need to prioritize certain municipalities over others or prioritize tasks,” he says. Pedro Sanchez in this intervention in which he reminds the President of the Generalitat Valenciana that, in this case, there is no need to prioritize because he has all the resources of the State at his disposal.
Identification of bodies
The President of the Government also indicated that another priority is recover and identify the bodies of the deceased, which now amount to more than 200, with “agility“; but also with “the guarantees and dignity that the victims and their families deserve”, he declared. For this work, and with the aim of speeding up the process, the Executive deployed “20 teams of “removal of corpses, made up of forensic doctors”, psychologists, scientific police, morgues and disaster identification units”; and undertakes to continue the work as long as “necessary” until all citizens are located.
Restore essential services
As Pedro Sánchez indicated, among the government’s priorities is also “restore basic supplies and essential services “We are aware that this is one of the priorities to return to normality,” he maintained.
In recent hours, “very notable” progress has been made in the resumption of essential services. Actually, Power supply has been restored to “94% of homes”as well as “55,000 telephone lines cut,” said the president, who knows that “much remains to be done” for normality to return to the areas where DANA has caused the most damage.
To reactivate transport infrastructure, “300 specialists” have been deployed, who have already managed to remove more than 2,000 vehicles damaged by mudslides. “Constructions, detours and repairs of tunnels” have also been launched to recover traffic, as has already been carried out on a section of the A3, “between Cuenca and Valencia”, for the circulation of emergency vehicles.
