Mud throwers greeted the visit of the King, Felipe VI, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, and the head of the regional government of the autonomous community of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, on Sunday, November 3, as the three men traveled to the first time in Paiporta, the epicenter of the terrible floods that devastated the province on October 29.
« Assassins », “Mazon resignation”, “Sanchez, dog”, “Get out of here, clowns”, “We have nothing left”, “People are dying”« Where were you? »shout angry local residents in videos recorded by Spanish media. Objects and stones fly and a shovel handle hits Pedro Sanchez, who quickly moves away from the scene. Stained with mud, King Felipe VI refuses to leave and continues his visit, approaching the inhabitants of this town deprived of drinking water to listen to their complaints or respond to their reproaches.
“No one came, we had to organize ourselves”castigates a young man, whom he tries to calm down. Elsewhere, Queen Laeticia consoles a crying victim and also bursts into tears. Anger “is not against you”a man tells him, implying that the ambient hostility is aimed more at the political leaders, the socialist Pedro Sanchez and the conservative Mazon, both under fire from criticism in Spain.
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Dozens, even hundreds, of people remain missing
Five days after the floods which caused the death of at least 210 people in the Valencia region, according to a final provisional count on Sunday evening, including 72 in Paiporta, indignation and exasperation dominate, faced with the incapacity of the administrations, which are highly decentralized, to respond effectively to the scale of the tragedy. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people remain missing. A provisional list of 1,900 calls concerning possible missing people has not yet been updated, according to the site eldiario.es which had access to a document from the crisis committee – a figure denied by the Valencian government, which refuses to give an assessment of the missing. Garages and basements that are still inaccessible undoubtedly contain lifeless bodies.
After a natural disaster, rapid relief is crucial. On Friday, a woman was found alive, after surviving three days in a Benetusser tunnel, trapped in her vehicle, according to a note from the emergency services. Five days after the floods which drowned the municipalities on the south bank of the Turia, no one anymore thinks that such a “miracle” could happen again.
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