▲ Distribution of water and food in the town of Paiporta, in the region of Valencia, devastated by torrential rains.Photo Afp
Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, November 2, 2024, p. 20
Madrid. It is imperative that they return homerequested the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, after the population turned to support the affected communities, as both vehicles and pedestrians are blocking access necessary for the passage of aid convoys.
Meanwhile, the death toll due to the passage of the Isolated Depression at High Levels (DANA) in Spain since last Tuesday rose to 207, the majority in the Valencian Community, but the most alarming thing is the 1,900 missing people who remain buried under the thousands of tons of mud that have destroyed towns, houses, buildings, roads and landscapes in the region, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, which heralds an unimaginable catastrophe.
The damage caused by DANA – exacerbated by climate change – was reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami. This is a cemetery, with bodies trapped under a meter and a half of mud and under carssaid one of the residents of Paiporta.
The worst natural disaster in the country’s recent history increases popular indignation against those responsible for public administrations, since help from the State continues to not arrive.
Those affected demand that the president of the government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, decree the state of alarm that would allow all aid mechanisms to be activated.
Tens of thousands of volunteers provide support in the most damaged towns and go on foot, by bicycle or by any means of transportation capable of overcoming the barriers caused by the natural disaster, which also destroyed roads, streets and rural access roads to the towns. .
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, reported that the Civil Guard rescued more than 4,500 people, and they continue working with a report of at least 2,500 alert calls.
Many homes remain without water, electricity, gas or Internet, forcing thousands of people to go out in search of supplies at a time when the meteorological agency issued alerts for heavy rain in the region, as well as on the coast of Huelva, Andalusia and Tarragona, in Catalonia.