The Valencian Government refused this Sunday to resign after criticism of the regional response to the floods of October 29 and promised to focus on reconstruction, at a time when the number of fatalities rose to 222.
On Saturday, thousands of protesters called for the resignation of the president of the autonomous community of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, and his ‘number two’, Susana Camarero, accusing the regional government of having taken too long to respond to the catastrophe that hit the province. .
In a press conference to take stock of Civil Protection, Susana Camarero stated that dismissal “is not an option” and that the objective is to work on the recovery and reconstruction of the devastated area, refusing to abandon the victims of the tragedy. time.
For his part, Carlos Mazón (PP, center-right) said that he respects the objective of Saturday’s demonstration, shares “this pain” and regretted the riots and acts of vandalism that occurred.
Also today, the national PP expressed its support, from Madrid, to the regional executive that “has defended itself at all times” against a Government (PSOE, center-left), which “refused to assume Spain’s national emergency” in recent years.
The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, expressed the solidarity of the national government with the peaceful and regulated demonstrations and considered that it would be “a mistake” to enter into other debates at a time when it is necessary to concentrate efforts on aid actions.
According to the authorities, the number of people rescued rose to 36,803, 82 of them in the last hours.
The high-speed rail connection between Madrid and Valencia is scheduled to resume on Thursday and the number of Valencian municipalities affected amounts to 75.
During the weekend, with the arrival of thousands of volunteers from many parts of Spain, the cleaning and debris removal work intensified, in addition to the thousands of soldiers from the different emergency services working in the area with machinery. heavy and thousands of vehicles, helicopters, ships and drones.
A total of 8,494 soldiers are deployed in the affected areas (2,103 from the Military Emergency Unit, UME), who have mobilized more than 2,000 ground vehicles, 12 helicopters and 32 drones, in addition to almost 10,000 agents from the National Police and the Guard. Civil, which has reinforced citizen service points and mobile documentation offices in various locations.
The national government announced that the Council of Ministers will approve this Monday a second support package for the region, while the PP presented a set of 13 measures that will be incorporated into this diploma, after having proposed expanding the list of affected municipalities, a single portal for aid management, a line for vehicle renewal, a housing plan, the creation of an exclusive fund for education and a mental health plan.
The association that represents insurance companies in Spain received 156,126 claims for compensation for damages caused, of which 50,679 correspond to homes, 92,779 to vehicles and 9,212 to businesses and warehouses.
The water supply networks of the province of Valencia suffered damages estimated at 331 million euros, according to first estimates.
The torrential rains and subsequent floods left more than 600,000 people without water supplies, a figure that has now been reduced to just over 7,000 users.
However, the main problems are no longer the supply, according to the Ministry, but the quality and, in 60 municipalities, the recommendation to boil water before consumption is maintained, and in another five the water is not drinkable even after to boil.
On Saturday, 130,000 people gathered in Valencia to question the regional government’s performance in managing the crisis, a criticism that Susana Camarero said she understood.
“We regret that the pain of those affected is being politicized. It hurts us as a government that there were violent groups that, at the end of a peaceful demonstration that showed this pain, caused riots and acts of vandalism that distort the objective of the demonstration and the message of pain for this tragedy,” he highlighted. , accusing the national government of trying to focus solely on the regional government’s responsibility in the response.
In his opinion, a flood like this “should leave many experiences and lessons to be learned” and it will be necessary to evaluate “not only the reaction foreseen in the emergency protocols, but also the infrastructures themselves.”
Source: Observadora
