The volunteers try to erase the scars of the disaster. The anger does not subside.
Even his glasses are partly covered in mud. For more than a week, Fernando, a toy wholesaler in Alfafar in the suburbs of Valencia, has been cleaning his warehouse completely devastated by the floods.
With the help of volunteers, he has already removed several cubic meters of goods. But there is still a lot of work to do. “It’s Dantesque: we have to throw everything away. We couldn't save anything. We're going to have to put employees out of work.”
In front of his warehouse, chaos continues to reign with dozens of overturned vehicles, mountains of waste and mud everywhere.
“And the worst is the contrast”
“It feels like Gaza, in a war zone” testifies Pierre, a resident of Narbonne who came to help. “It’s impressive. And the worst is the contrast between these neighborhoods and the city center where nothing happened, with people on terraces having a drink”.
On Tuesday, the head of the Spanish government Pedro Sanchez announced exceptional aid of 10 billion euros for the disaster victims. Not enough to cheer Santiago up. “I'm sure we won't get a quarter of that amount! “It won't be enough to compensate families who find themselves unemployed.”
Thousands of volunteers take turns every day to clean the streets, ground floor apartments and businesses. But the work is titanic. Avenida Cami Nou, the main street of Alfafar, has returned to a semblance of normality since the vehicles were removed.
But in other neighborhoods, the landscape is the same as the day after the disaster. Beyond volunteers, thousands of professionals come from all over Spain to help the victims. Azzedine Ayadat traveled from Pamplona.
“Unfortunately there may be people”
This civil protection agent explores underground car parks in search of victims. “In any garage where there is water, there can be surprises, and unfortunately there can be people.”
The army is also deployed but it took a long time to arrive according to residents and it does not have the means to help everyone. “None came to my warehouse. Everything that was cleaned was thanks to these students and this Frenchman from Narbonne” Precise Fernando.
Since the torrential rains fell on Valencia, the public management of alerts and relief has been at the heart of the controversies between the central government led by the socialist Pedro Sanchez and the Valencia region chaired by the conservative Carlos Mazon.
“Sanchez resigns, Mazon assassin”, we read on the walls of a house in Alfafar. Anger is growing among residents who are convinced that the lack of coordination between the different administrations has worsened the situation.
“Now is not the time to argue” defends Maria José Català, conservative mayor of Valencia. Questioned by Midi Libre, the elected representative of the Popular Party defends herself. “People are in shock and we know they are looking for those responsible. But the most important thing is to continue working.”
“We went through all the emotions”
More than a week after the disaster, there is still no definitive assessment and confusion reigns, fueled by suspicion and wild rumors spread on social networks by far-right influencers. “In the unofficial media, they spoke of 1,900 missing last Saturday. And on Tuesday, the justice system explained that there were in fact only 89? There is still a huge difference!” exclaims Rafael, who has been hosting his parents-in-law since their apartment was flooded in Paiporta.
“I don’t understand why we still don’t know exactly how many people died.” In the Latorre district, where 8 people died, Sandra's real estate agency is almost cleaned.
“We went through all the emotions. We cried, we got angry. But it’s no use, we have to continue working” Sandra explains, with tears in her eyes. A week later, this resigned woman no longer really tries to understand how such a catastrophe could have happened.
