Thursday October 31, two days after the DANA which caused more than 200 victims, the General Council of Social Work activated its group for major disasters and mobilized 350 workers experienced in emergencies to go to Valencia. That same Friday began the movements of elite groups, the so-called “GEIES” (State Group for Intervention in Social Emergencies) with workers from neighboring communities intended to provide support.
Social workers act with quasi-military planning: segmenting communities to create a map of needs and going street by street, door to door, trying to locate the most vulnerable neighbors and meet their needs. These are dependent people, the elderly, people with mental health problems or those who need home care, but social workers have ended up providing help to those who request it. The municipal administration was key because of its knowledge of the field, underlines Emiliana Vicente, president of the Council, in addition to the collaboration of the neighborhood. In the early days, contact between personal networks was essential to identify the population at risk.
This is precisely one of the objectives of social work, Vicente emphasizes: “There are always situations of vulnerability and disasters generate more of them. We must work so that this does not become an exclusion,” explains the President of the Council, who went to Valencia with her colleagues to coordinate their forces. They mobilized human and technical equipment, accident insurance and accommodation coverage for employees, all available to municipal social service centers. The group operated mainly in Horta Sud, but the network of workers is available in all municipalities.
In addition to going door-to-door, workers coordinated from the start with town hall staff, who barely have the means to strengthen this sector. From the Generalitat Valenciana, they say, they have heard nothing. The workers of the elite group maintain contact with the municipal social service centers, try to carry out a telephone check of those who have infrastructure and in the first days, a sort of social triage to determine the priorities of intervention . Vicente’s team discovered an unprecedented panorama for a Western country, he emphasizes. The state official wonders how it is possible that after several days there are still people without electricity or water. “It is difficult to understand how these people lived because of the lack of preventive action,” comments the expert in conversation with elDiario.es, while emphasizing that “the mayors were taken away.” The neighbors, he emphasizes, “had neither water nor collection points”.
The manager values waves of solidarity, but demands coordinated action: “Waves of solidarity are good, but they are not the way. If there is a single command, all professionals must be made available for emergencies,” explains the professional, who affirms that there are workers specially trained to deal with these emergencies. For example, they are the ones who take into account the socio-health conditions of neighbors, whether they need medication or specific help and how to provide it to them. “We have better trained our workers,” he defends. The head of the school is worried about messages that smack of anti-politics and claims the role of municipalities: “We have seen mayors abandon municipal systems, their employees… that’s what the State is” underlines – she said.
Long-term pain
He is also concerned that vulnerability will spread, become chronic, and that discomfort that has not yet appeared will not be taken into account. Vicente underlines the mourning which has not yet begun to materialize, the impossibility for certain people to bury their loved ones, the suffering of the missing. And like the devastation of cities, which is a constant for those who have kept their homes. The place they know is gone, and above it is a large mountain of mud and rubble. “We must support the reconstruction of the populations’ vital processes, in addition to the material damage,” he emphasizes.
The representative maintains that municipalities must strengthen their teams to face what is coming. “There is an issue of social and emotional damage that is brutal. They need support groups to reconstruct the story of what they experienced. We must address social reconstruction as a whole,” he emphasizes. “All crises, climatic, economic, health, have a name and are social. We are before, during and after the emergency,” he emphasizes. Vicente defends the development of “perfectly defined” protocols: “We must know what the priority actions are and where we must concentrate immediately so that the damage is as little as possible,” he emphasizes. For example, quote: “We know we have single people who need help at home and that we need to include them in emergency plans. And you either get these people out of their homes, or with EMU or emergency personnel, you offer them that service.
He urges the Administration to act quickly, also for the future well-being of people: “If you feel there is agility, you can feel safe, but if you think it could have been avoided , the damage is irreparable. Bureaucracy cannot generate greater suffering.”
50 million euros to strengthen municipal social services
The emergency group was established in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic to address existing vulnerabilities and poverty resulting from disasters, as also occurred during the La Palma volcano eruption , in the Canary Islands.
After becoming aware of the situation in the Valencian municipalities and in an attempt to strengthen municipal social action networks, the government approved a decree on November 11 which provides for aid of 50 million euros to the municipalities concerned to strengthen their services social services through the Ministry of Social Affairs. Rights, consumption and the 2030 agenda. Minister Pablo Bustinduy, on whom this portfolio depends, calls for maintaining attention beyond the material damage caused by the floods: “We must not forget the consequences that can be triggered at the social level for many families and vulnerable people. So that no one affected by DANA is also a victim of social exclusion, we have promoted significant assistance to social services, third sector entities as well as the deployment of social workers specialized in disasters and who are essential to protect those who need it most,” points out elDiario.es.
This is the second decree that the central government has approved with urgent measures for DANA. The first, approved on November 4, was validated last Thursday by Congress. The text plans to strengthen emergency social intervention through the deployment of basic front-line social services, through a direct subsidy to the municipalities concerned.
The amount is channeled through a grant, executable from October 29, 2024, DANA day, until December 31, 2025, for the administrations competent in the provision of front-line social services. This measure, the text specifies, will make it possible to implement actions in terms of early detection and emergency intervention; information, guidance, advice and management assistance; emergency support including benefits and direct financial assistance to co-housing units, families and affected individuals; the strengthening of actions in the family environment until the normalization of mobility in the affected areas.
