The head of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), General Francisco Javier Marcos, appeared this Friday from the Ministry of Defense after the meeting of the DANA Crisis Committee, in his second press conference since the floods in Valencia . During this appearance, Marcos explained the important operation carried out by the EMU ten days after the tragedy, when they had already carried out 595 missions, and he valued the work of his soldiers and the reaction of the State, both on the part of the Government as well as the Generalitat, in the face of a disaster of this magnitude. “We intervened as early as possible”, assured Marcos about the work of the UME, “the relationship between the organizations of the Valencian Community and the Ministry of the Interior was perfect and they acted in a coordinated way”, he added in response. to questions from journalists present in the room.
Marcos stressed that “no one could have predicted the magnitude of what happened” and that “all the information provided was good.” “The EMU was there from the beginning,” the general emphasized, as he had already emphasized during his first press conference; “As the information was produced by the community, we anticipated it, it took us 12 minutes to arrive,” he said.
The head of the UME also sent a message of tranquility and encouragement to the Valencian people: “I ask you to be calm, we will be with all the Valencians without rest until the end.” “Our biggest challenge is to ensure that people can do what they always do as quickly as possible,” he assured, while recognizing that “as long as there are people missing, We are in the first phase of the operation.
Marcos assured that the Armed Forces are present in the 72 municipalities declared seriously affected by the floods, as well as in the communication routes that connect these municipalities. From there, they have carried out, to date, 595 missions, “some lasting 5 hours and others have not been completed since the first day”, he explained. Although ten days have passed since the disaster, “there is still no photograph” of it, because the situation in the municipalities changes and new needs are detected every day. “This is not a military operation, it is an emergency operation with military forces,” the general clarified.
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