Almost a week after the start of the floods which left at least 217 dead in Spain, the number of missing is still unknown, raising fears of a much more serious final human toll.
It is a situation that continues to worsen day by day. Since the start of the floods in the south-east of Spain on Tuesday October 29, at least 217 people have lost their lives and many are still missing.
On this last point, the authorities have not communicated any figures since the start of the disaster. The search for survivors continues, supported in particular by the army which came as reinforcements. Rescuers fear in particular that many people have been trapped in underground parking lots, some of which are still being explored.
“There are no more bodies on the surface”
For several days, different estimates of the number of missing people have been circulating in the Spanish press. The daily El Diario initially mentioned this Friday the figure of 2,500 missing. A total quickly nuanced by the authorities who then explain that communications have not been restored in many regions.
Carlos Mazón, the president of the Valencia region, assured last week that “thousands of calls” had been received to report a disappearance. But the disappearance of a person is often reported several times.
The authorities also explain that relatives do not systematically report when a missing person is found alive. Since then, connections have been re-established in a large part of the disaster areas.
“We can no longer find any because there are no more bodies on the surface,” said Pilar Bernabé, when asked about the lack of information regarding the number of missing.
Comments nuanced by Javier Marcos, the general head of the UME (Military Emergency Unit) who called for “patience”, before detailing the difficult conditions facing the rescuers.
Spain: still hundreds of missing – 04/11
Because rescue operations remain difficult due to the nature of the terrain and the vast extent of the damage. “The count of the missing must be carried out in parallel with immediate relief operations and the assessment of the damage,” explains Pier Matteo Barone, professor at the American University of Rome specializing in geoarchaeology. in El País.
“Added to this is the collection of information from family members, local authorities and an essential phase of verification by cross-referencing data between health and identity files and testimonies on the ground,” continues -he.
Especially since the rescuers are doing a real painstaking job, checking each car to see if there are any missing people.
On BFMTV, Fausto Quintanilla, the spokesperson for the municipality of Riba-roja de Túria, near Valencia, also provided an element of response. “I sincerely think that we are overwhelmed by the scale of what is happening. We have 60 villages affected. In certain towns, the soldiers are barely returning because they had to clear the ground. In certain streets, we end up with 100 vehicles on top of each other,” he describes.
“We must understand that the Spanish state model is not like the French one which is centralized. It is the government of the region which leads the coordination of emergencies and the command of everything that is happening “, he recalled.
The regional government of Valencia, led by Carlos Mazón, from the main opposition party, and the executive of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, blame each other for the failures in the management of the crisis.
In Spain, the regions have a great deal of autonomy and for example, for the army to be able to act, as is currently the case in rescue operations in the province of Valencia, the regional government must request it.
Faced with the failure of the authorities to unite, an army of volunteers took over to participate in cleaning operations and food distribution in the disaster areas.
