Paqui Llopis Try delaying the interview for one more day. “I’m talking to someone from the Generalitat, call me in half an hour if you can’t tomorrow,” says the mayor of Crown Lock. The first mayor of Massanassa, Francisco Comes He picks up the hospital phone: “I have three or four minutes.” Ricardo Gabaldón, Utiel advisorlooking for a place: “We’ll try on Thursday.” Amparo Folgado, mayor of Torrentcan’t even answer: “He is speechless.” Maribel Albalat, Paiporta councilorpicks up the phone wearily, about to get into the shower, with a visibly tired voice: “We’re going to talk now, it’s okay…”.
It’s been a week since Carlos Mazón, Pedro Sánchez and kings Felipe VI and Letizia Ortiz were scolded and booed in the Valencian towns most affected by DANA. The neighbors threw mud at them, confronted them, blamed them for all the mistakes they made during the heavy floods and some ended up breaking the windows of the President of the Government’s car – three people were arrested this week for having a connection with these people. events -.
The protests were aimed at denouncing political wrongdoing. It was not in vain that yesterday, throughout Spain, thousands of people gathered in front of their town halls to protest what happened. There is no major city in Spain where there has been no shortage of protests.
However, local governments were the first to respond to DANA, being politicians who received the affection of their neighbors. For example, several buttons. The mayor of Catarroja, Lorena Silventclasses suspended at 3 p.m. because of DANA. Ricardo Gabaldon He did the same in Utiel and now he looks to the future: “The first thing is to rebuild the city that is broken. In 9 days it was made whole.”
The mayor of Paiporta also responds to EL ESPAÑOL along these lines. “The citizens passed few days very shocked“, but now comes the time to demand”, says Albalat on the phone with EL ESPAÑOL. But it’s also time to offer information about the service. mayor of Aldaia, Guillermo Lujanuses its social media profiles to report the latest city news day after day. Comment among other things on open pharmacies.
Guillermo Luján, mayor of Aldaia, in the photo.
Front line of battle
Councilors have always felt like they are, the first politicians citizens turn to when they have problems with the administration. “The municipal councils are the first point of attention. Citizens have been few days very shockedWe are very nervous, people are very tired, me first of all.
We are now in a justification phase, where we assume this happened to you. It’s the biggest disaster and it fell on us”, underlines the mayor of Paiporta.
For his part, the Utiel advisor recalls that the first thing they did was “to help the people”. In fact, thanks to the quick action of most of them, for example by closing schools, lives were saved.
Once the storm and floods had calmed, it remained to “assess the damage”. Gabaldón recalls that “the first thing is to rebuild a broken city.”
The mayor of Massanassa had more difficulty helping his population. He was in hospital after falling while cycling. He is still awaiting elbow surgery. “I work remotely,” he admits. Francisco Comes, who prefers to talk about their neighbors.
“What have we done to ensure that people suffer as little as possible and have basic needs: organize food, medicine, reach people’s homes… The city council has gone out of its way to do everything possible in the face of such a huge disaster. Not a single ground floor is left uncleaned,” Comes admits.
For the moment, all the mayors are trying to get to work rebuilding. As the mayor of Paiporta points out, “we are in the demand phase”.
The reconstruction of cities
Gabaldón recognizes that “in 9 days, the situation in Utiel was reversed.” Many areas are being rebuilt “thanks to all the work that was done together.” The volunteers, the civil society, it’s a miracle. We must continue because now we must help the 300 or 400 people find themselves without housing. After avoidance, it’s helping and supporting.”
In his town, he was very grateful for having “suspended the educational center because that would have been an even greater shame. In addition, he always felt supported.” you are isolated you are alone but it’s because they couldn’t come.
Gabaldón is quick to look back. “Now what we have to do is serve everyone. Don’t tell the citizen whose responsibility it is. Help me and that’s it. That’s what they expect from all institutions. we did itthe others must do it.”
He believes that people go through different “stages.” “There are dramatic situations and we are talking about lives. There are people who are not dead, but who have lost everything,” he emphasizes. This is why he insists that “you have to dedicate hours to it”. “Me andI thank the government teambut also to all those who collaborated, the volunteers, the farmers, the breeders… Everything to eliminate everything that was in the streets.”
Gabaldón has no doubts about the next steps: “That people who have lost everything are taken care of, that everything is done correctly, that they are warmLet’s set an example for all institutions and then we will see even more things. “We have to respond to everyone who needs us.”
The city in the worst situation is Paiporta. “We have a lot of people working, but what everyone who comes tells us is that you can’t get an idea before you come. There are places where there are already open bars. There is no pharmacy here. We always have, it’s a desolate town. There is still earth, mud, we are trying to recover electricity, we must continue to supply citizens with drinking water and hygiene. It’s as if society had disappeared and one day passes and you have to eat and you have to drink…”.
“The establishments They coordinate to respond“, comments Albalat. “The most urgent thing is to remove everything that is in the streets. There are streets that look like trenches, all of that needs to be removed so as not to have a public health problem. “We need them to continue to provide us with food.”
Municipal councils were the first point of attention. Even in moments of greatest tension, she received no reproach. “I all I find are signs of affection. They give you ideas, encouragement… You walk around Paiporta and you see how difficult it is. They all work every day. “It’s a city, it’s a very big city.”
Albalat remembers that they need “Foreign aid is difficult”. “The municipal councils are the first point of attention, the citizens have been very shocked for several days, we are very nervous, the people are very tired, I am the first. Now we are in a phase of demand, of acceptance of what happened to us. It’s the greatest catastrophe of… of… And it fell on us.
Albalat calls for a “single order” from the start. “What we started demanding was reinforcements.”
For the moment, the reconstruction of Paiporta takes time. For the moment, “there isn’t even a Saturday anymore”, recognizes a mayor who thanks all the volunteers. “I don’t even know when we will have clean streets. I don’t know when we will have electricity in all the towns. We need to get schools and businesses back on track, many will reinvent themselves… Paiporta will reappear, but it will be another Paiporta.”
Another city affected by DANA is Massanassa. The city was also on everyone’s lips thanks to the help received from Vicente Moreno, Osasuna coach born there who came to help as soon as he could.
Francisco Comes, mayor of the city, had to experience all this from the hospital, under the direction of his government team. “The goal is for it to be able to transit and now we are setting up an office so that it is at full capacity with help available to those who have lost almost everything,” Comes emphasizes.
For now, “we are at the point where applications will be processed between today and Monday. The goal is start getting people back first. Much remains to be done. The infrastructure is destroyed and we are going to need a lot of help. We work so that there are no health problems and work hard. We must revive Massanassa. A hug to everyone who has lost a family member and to see if the missing appear.”
He knows that local administration is the first touchstone for his fellow citizens, “because we are also neighbors and many officials are at the bottom of the canyon.”
“I I’m not going to criticize other administrationsnow we have to go all together”, underlines Comes before praising the municipalities: “It’s a close administration, with a few more neighbors but we keep having relatives who have lost everything. I see that people recognize our work and do not understand how the services of other administrations did not arrive from minute zero. What all mayors will do is achieve this. There is no business behind this. »
From a distance he worked and managed to repair the Barranco del Poyo. “It’s going to happen again and this will need to be corrected“, he insists before finishing: “Encourage my neighbors, we will be there until the end and we will not stop. Good luck.”
