The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced the immediate mobilization of another 5,000 soldiers in the areas affected by DANA in the Valencian Community, in addition to another 5,000 police and civil guards who will join the rescue efforts. “The central government is ready to act, if the Generalitat needs more resources, it should ask for them,” said Sánchez, “the Valencian authorities know the terrain better than anyone else, they know what needs to be done, and if they do not have enough resources, they should ask for them.” again to the General Administration of the State.”
This was announced in an appearance from Moncloa, in which he expressed his “deepest affection” for the victims and assured that the Government and the administrations “are with them.” “The Government is going to mobilize all possible resources to help,” he said, while confirming 211 bodies recovered so far, in a tragedy that is already “the second flood that has claimed the most victims in Europe so far.” of the century.”
The Government of Spain is acting on the ground on five clear priorities, Sánchez assured. “The first, save lives. In the last 48 hours we have deployed more than 2,500 military personnel, 1,800 national police and 2,700 civil guards in the province of Valencia who are helping to rescue survivors and restore normality in the streets,” he listed. “These troops are being assisted by the military, digital equipment and satellites, specialized vehicles, helicopters, drones and boats.” It is, the president said, “the largest deployment of members of the Armed Forces that has ever been made in the country in times of peace. “4,800 rescues have been made and more than 30,000 people have been helped.”
However, he has admitted that “the magnitude of the catastrophe makes this aid insufficient, because it is taking time to reach many points.” “That is why I am pleased that President Mazón has decided to increase the request for military personnel from 500 to 5,000. And the Government of Spain will proceed with that shipment. Today 4,000 additional military service personnel will arrive in Valencia and first thing tomorrow morning the remaining thousand. In total, 5,000 more in the next few hours,” he assured. In addition, the Government has ordered the deployment of an amphibious navy ship, equipped with accommodation, operating rooms and support vehicles that will arrive at the port of Valencia in the next few hours. The Executive has also ordered the deployment of police and civil guards, doubling the number of agents who will be involved in the rescue efforts, thus adding a total of 10,000 troops deployed in the affected areas.
Sánchez has stressed that “the central government is ready to help” and has conveyed to the president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, that “if he needs more resources, he should ask for them.” Sánchez has insisted that “there is no need to prioritize some municipalities over others or prioritize tasks; “It is prioritized when there is a lack of resources and that is not the case.” Along these lines, he has repeated that if the Generalitat Valenciana requires more troops “what it has to do is ask for it and that help will be provided immediately”: “The Valencian authorities know the terrain better than anyone, they know what to do and If they do not have sufficient resources, they should request them again from the General State Administration.” “This way of proceeding, which combines the capillarity and closeness of local and regional administrations with the collective power of the central government, has allowed our country to successfully overcome numerous natural disasters and previous crises that we all have in our heads and in our hearts. ”, he stated.
211 fatalities
The second priority of the Government is to recover and identify the bodies of the deceased, with “agility”, but also with “guarantees and dignity”: “Over the last few hours, garages, homes, roads have been inspected… And they have carried out the lifting of 211 victims.” To speed up the process, the Government has deployed 20 corpse removal teams, several mobile morgues and a victim identification unit. “These search efforts will continue in the coming days as long as necessary, day and night.”
The third priority is restoring essential supplies that have been affected. “It is one of the priorities to recover normality.” In the last few hours, the electricity supply has been restored to 94% of the affected homes, going from 240,000 incident points to less than 14,000. “Half of the cut lines have also been recovered with the expectation of recovering the rest throughout the weekend.” In addition, more than 2,000 cars and trucks and hundreds of tons of mud have been removed from the roads. Work has also begun to repair train and commuter lines and clean channels and water infrastructure. “The teams will continue to work tirelessly until aid has reached everyone and normality returns to the streets.”
The teams have been able to recover traffic on the V-30, on the V-31 of the Mediterranean corridor, and offer emergency circulation on the section of the A-3 between Cuenca and Valencia. And at the same time, high speed has been restored between Barcelona and Valencia, the 5 commuter lines C5 and C6, and rail freight traffic between the port of Valencia, Aragon and Catalonia. Repair work has also begun on the Chiva and Torrent railway tunnels that connect Valencia with Madrid, and on commuter lines C1 and C2, which we hope to complete over the course of this weekend.
The fourth priority is to guarantee security on the streets with the deployment of civil guard and police forces. “Unfortunately there are people who are taking advantage of the situation to commit criminal acts; more than 82 detections have already been carried out by the security forces,” he assured.
Economic recovery
The Government’s fifth priority, Sánchez said, is to launch all possible economic resources to guarantee the recovery of the territories affected by DANA. “Thinking about the autonomies, the municipalities, the homes, the workers and the companies. That is why next Tuesday we are going to approve in the Council of Ministers the declaration of a seriously affected area for those places in the Valencian Community, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Catalonia and Aragon that have been most affected,” he added. An inter-ministerial commission will also be created to “urgently” promote the reconstruction and economic relaunch of these areas. In addition, the Ministry of Finance will authorize the Generalitat to carry out all the emergency expenses it needs, “without any limit on resources.”
The Government has also initiated the procedures to request aid from the European solidarity fund and other community support resources offered by the European Union.
The president concluded the appearance by admitting that the resources so far have not been sufficient and that there have been shortcomings and asking for unity to face this catastrophe: “There will be time to look back, clarify responsibilities and learn from these effects of the climate crisis. “Now we have to act as a united country.”
Crisis Committee to monitor the effects of DANA
Sánchez makes this statement from La Moncloa, where he has chaired the Crisis Committee from the beginning to monitor the effects of DANA. The Crisis Committee was also attended by the first vice president and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero; the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and the third vice president and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera.
Also the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños; the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles; the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente; the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant.
Sánchez will also visit this Saturday, together with Margarita Robles, the UME Headquarters, at the Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base (Madrid).
The number of fatalities now reaches 207, as reported this Friday night by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, in an interview on Cadena SER. “The latest update I have is 207 victims,” he said, while he has predicted that, in view of the circumstances and the assessment of experts and technicians, “unfortunately we are going to have more deaths.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
