The work of emergency services during the DANA It was summed up in a moment of tenderness. Immortalized for posterity in photos. The image in question, taken by Sonia Llorens Micó, captures the meaning hug from a mountain rescue doctor to a baby, rescued by helicopter from the rage of the floodswith his mother. The child and the woman were trapped on the roof of their house in the Comarca de la Ribera and could have drowned.
“This is the photo of hope“good news among so many tragedies”, reflects the doctor who appears in the photo, loving the baby as if it were his own child, while asking EL ESPAÑOL not to reveal his identity, because he does not does not want to take credit for the teamwork carried out by the emergency services since DANA devastated the villages of the Valencian orchard on a tragic October 29.
“The Alpha 1 helicopter from GER Alicante carried out this rescue“. The mother and baby were evacuated to the Alzira heliport. There, the mountain rescue doctor of the Víctor-990 helicopter, belonging to the Provincial Consortium of Firefighters of Valencia, to continue working as a team and without rest, to combat the ravages of a DANA that left a tsunami precipitation of 500 liters per square meter. The biggest flood of the century, as evidenced by the toll: 215 deaths.
“This intervention was done on Wednesday, November 30″, as specified by the rescue doctor of Víctor-990. That day, they worked overtime to locate the survivors, since the count of the trace of the dead that the DANA left in the province had not yet started from Valencia “This Wednesday, eight helicopters had been mobilized and 80 extractions were carried out people stuck in their homes.
The Alzira heliport welcomes the survivors of DANA, Wednesday October 30.
Of the eighty interventions carried out this Wednesday, November 30, at one o’clock in the afternoon, the most special took place, because the smallest survivor arrived at the Alzira heliport: “Alpha 1 saved a mother and her one-year-old baby, from the roof of her house. “They were incommunicado and had been stuck for more than 24 hours.”
That day, the professionals of the Provincial Consortium of Firefighters of Valencia worked tirelessly for 24 hours, alongside the rescue doctors, risking their lives in a coordinated manner, to try to find the missing people or save the greatest number of refugees. on the roofs of their houses a Tuesday October 29 which already marks the darkest history of this country. “I received the rescued baby as the unit’s doctor,” said this doctor.
Ask. -How were the little boy and his mother?
Doctor Victor-990.- The baby was scared, as is normal, but I sympathized with him a lot because I have a daughter of the same age. We calmed him down by playing with a stuffed animal he owned from Paw Patrol. Her mother came down after the Alpha 1 helicopter, she had a smile from ear to ear when she arrived at the Alzira heliport, even if afterwards she burst into tears because it was very hard that this mother had to spend so much time. ‘hours on a roof, listening to the water for a whole night, with her son in her arms on a roof, wondering if they could be rescued in time or not.
The little boy was assessed to the nearest millimeter to check if he had any pathology or injury. “He was in good health the entire time he spent on a roof: he was hydrated, he didn’t have hypothermia or fever…” The moment this doctor held the baby in his arms has been captured by Sonia Llorens Micóforester and member of VACIF [Voluntariado para la Extinción de Incendios Forestales de Alzira].
“This moment reflects very well what is happening in Valencia: the worried face of a doctor and the vulnerability of a small child”, as Sonia, 42, herself explains, mobilized this Wednesday at the Alzira heliport. “If I’m not mistaken, at the mother and her baby, they were rescued in Riola.” After undergoing a medical examination, they were transferred to a sports pavilion: “They spent the night there with the rest of the rescued people, then their families came look for them.”
Forester Sonia Llorens Micó, member of VACIF, participates in the work of restitution of areas affected by DANA in Valencia.
Q.- What do you remember from the aftermath of the DANA epidemic?
Sonia Llorens Micó.- I have been a VACIF volunteer since 2016, and that Wednesday we helped welcome the rescued people to transfer them to the Alzira pavilion. The helicopters with the rescuers brought three generations of the same family who had spent the night on the roof of their country house; They also rescued several children aged 5 to 7; A boy arrived with a half-amputated arm…
I work like forestry and had never intervened in a tragedy of this magnitude. I have never seen so much damage to so many people in such a short time.
Suddenly, Sonia stops talking and bursts into tears. This member of the Alzira Forest Fire Extinguishing Volunteers [VACIF]his soul is broken by everything he has seen in the last ten days. “Let’s see if they find any more missing people“, he cries, helpless, aware of the pain suffered by the relatives of the 89 disappeared in the province of Valencia.
Q.- What tasks have you accomplished over the last ten days?
Sonia Llorens Micó.- I helped remove cars blocking the roads so backhoes could get in; I cut down trees washed away by the flood, I even managed to regulate traffic in Algemesí. Now I help distribute rubber boots and basic equipment in Catarroja.
Sonia and the mountain rescue doctor from the Valencia Firefighters Consortium’s V-990 helicopter work many shifts, with little rest, but when their strength begins to fade, they have a common element that motivates them. The two look at “the photo of hope” of the baby rescued from DANA, held in his arms by the doctor at the Alzira heliport. “We must work for all those who are going through a difficult period,” agree the two members of the system which tries to bring the “zero point” back to normality. Amount Valencia.
