The helplessness is seeing how you can't leave your house because the entrance is blocked by a pile of cars. The helplessness is having to walk for hours to Valencia in search of a supermarket because there is no other way to reach the capital and because there is nothing left on the shelves in your town. The helplessness is seeing that three days have passed since a DANA swept away everything you had and no one has come to your aid. The helplessness is that of a neighbor from Alfafar who shouts in front of the cameras: "We need help. Someone come. We can't do it alone."
The initial shock over the disaster left by the DANA in Valencia has been followed by social outrage over a shared feeling among the residents of the most affected towns: there are areas where no firefighter has been able to reach yet, no police... While the death toll continues to rise: 207 confirmed, 202 in Valencia, while there is still a list of 2,500 calls reporting missing persons.
This sense of abandonment has led thousands of citizens to organize themselves to help clean the streets or collect food for areas still without supplies. The image of hundreds of people crossing the pedestrian walkway that connects the Valencian capital with the La Torre neighborhood, while Army trucks pass underneath, summarizes well the new phase in which the management of this unprecedented crisis is entering.
The first 500 soldiers began to deploy yesterday in different points of the province to try to fill the void that citizen brooms have been fighting against until now. Despite the delay, which Defense Minister Margarita Robles attributed to President Carlos Mazón - to the indignation of the Palau de la Generalitat, which denied it - in 24 hours the military contingent will be doubled. Another 500 troops will arrive on Saturday.
Once again, the Government publicly pointed fingers at Mazón. And this despite the directive not to publicly convey confrontation in such a dramatic situation, even though there is discontent within the Government with Alberto Núñez Feijóo for his words and criticisms of organizations like Aemet, and for the management that Mazón is carrying out. "It is time for absolute cooperation and collaboration," proclaims the central Government. "Maximum support from the State for the management of this serious emergency," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska conveyed yesterday during his visit to Valencia.
Despite the "serious emergency" and citizens' complaints of "abandonment" and lack of resources, the alert level remains at level 2. The Moncloa established a crisis committee last Tuesday to monitor the effects of the DANA. That night, between 8:30 and 10:00 p.m., Vice President María Jesús Montero spoke on the phone with the presidents of the Valencian Community, Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, and Andalusia. She conveyed, according to sources familiar with the conversations consulted by EL MUNDO, the Government's readiness to help in whatever was necessary and offered them a direct line with the ministries of Interior and Defense.
That same night, Sánchez returned from his official visit to India. During the technical stop that the official plane made in Oman, he sent WhatsApp messages to the four presidents reiterating that the Government was ready to assist them whenever necessary. Mazón requested the participation of the UME at 8:36 p.m. on Tuesday.
"Montero called the presidents of Valencia, Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha, and Andalusia. Sánchez sends messages during his stop in Oman on his return from India"
In that first meeting of the crisis committee at La Moncloa, according to government sources, the situation and possible scenarios were examined, but a decision to declare a level 3 alert was not fully considered, which would imply that Interior would take control of the management. This was not done because the Valencian president had previously decided, on that same Tuesday, to set that alert at level 2, which made and keeps Mazón as the sole commander.
However, the Generalitat insists that the Government has "never" proposed raising to level 3, something that could be done according to the Civil Protection Law. The law delegates the decision to the Ministry of Interior "either on its own initiative or at the request of the Autonomous Communities or the Government Delegates in them."
The General State Emergency Plan (PLEGEM) establishes three alert levels, and level 3 is activated with the declaration of a national interest emergency. In national interest emergencies, the Operational Directorate of the Emergency will be entrusted by the head of the Ministry of Interior to the head of the Emergency Military Unit, unless it is not deployed due to the nature of the emergency. In the two previous levels, the autonomous community is in charge. The Government, at least as of today, does not consider raising the level.
The central Government acknowledges that unilaterally removing the regional president would have led to an institutional clash, a sort of Article 155, and the message that La Moncloa wants to convey is one of "collaboration between the regional presidents and the Prime Minister." In other words, Mazón's decision was accepted and continues to be. Neither Valencia decides to raise to level 3 - it is argued that all emergencies in Spain have been managed according to level 2 - and accept being displaced by Sánchez's Government, nor does the latter take the initiative to take control due to the lack of resources and means in many areas, causing wear and tear and erosion to fall on the PP regional leader.
At this level 2 alert, it is the regional president who must request the resources from the State that are needed. It was not until Thursday that Mazón requested the intervention of the Army, something that, according to the Generalitat, the Government did not propose either.
What has happened is that yesterday Grande-Marlaska joined the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI). In other words, neither party dares to take the step for the State to assume control of the management in the emergency, but the Government is now part of it, which did not happen until yesterday.
Despite being repressed, the discontent within the central Government over the Generalitat's management is evident. And vice versa. According to the Defense Minister, "the military were all ready to intervene." "But you know that the direction of the emergency is the responsibility of the Generalitat, not the Government of Spain," she said.
This adds to the message that the Government conveys that the decisions made and how they have been managed are the responsibility of the Valencian Community, including sending alerts. "The levels are clearly established. At the peninsular level, levels 1 and 2 are the responsibility of the autonomous communities, and level 3 is a State competence. We are at level 2 because that is what the Valencian Community requested," is what the Government conveys. And neither party dares to take the step that citizens demand while they clean the mud from the streets.