5,000 soldiers and 5,000 police
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday the sending of 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 additional police and gendarmes to help the inhabitants of the south-east of the country, ravaged by dramatic floods.
In total, “5,000 additional soldiers” will be deployed “in the coming hours” to help residents of the disaster areas, Mr. Sanchez said. To these soldiers will be added “5,000 additional police officers and civil guards (equivalent to gendarmes in Spain, editor’s note).
Undetermined number of missing
But this toll could rise further, with many missing people still being sought, particularly in the carcasses of cars overturned by the raging waves, which litter the parking lots and streets.
The president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, assured Friday evening that there was still no official figure concerning those missing, while residents without news of their loved ones increased their calls for help. help on social networks.
“It would be imprudent to give a figure,” Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska confirmed on the Antena 3 television channel. Nevertheless, “it is probable, given the circumstances and the feedback from experts […] that there will be more deaths,” he said.
Reopen the roads
One of the army's priorities, in addition to the search for the missing, is to reopen the roads to allow the delivery of aid, particularly food, by clearing vehicles and rubble which prevent circulation, and to restore the order in the affected municipalities.
Since the floods, which occurred during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the authorities have noted acts of looting and theft. The police announced that they had already arrested several dozen people, several of whom were placed in pre-trial detention.
Communication problems
“Yesterday we brought tons of food and water to the most affected municipalities,” assured Susana Camarero, vice-president of the Valencia region, recognizing that operations were hampered by the state of infrastructure. “Many villages were isolated and we called the municipal councils to find out what they needed, but there were no telephones,” she recalled, while thousands of people remain without communications.
Thousands of citizens spontaneously presented themselves at the organization center set up by the Region to organize relief and aid for disaster victims.
JOSE JORDAN / AFP
Solidarity
“The aid is insufficient. Fortunately, Spain knows how to show solidarity,” said Alicia Izquierdo, who came on Friday to bring two carts full of food with her sister Marta to their brother’s house in Paiporta, a town of more than 25,000 inhabitants where at least 62 deaths were identified.
On Friday, the number of volunteers was such that the authorities called on residents going by car to the affected communities to stay at home, so as not to clog the roads and prevent the passage of help.
Orange alert maintained this Saturday
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