The Spanish government promised new financial aid on Monday, November 11, after the floods which killed 222 people two weeks ago. These 3.8 billion euros are in addition to a previous package of 10.6 billion euros presented last week. On the ground, thousands of volunteers, soldiers and firefighters are still hard at work helping the thousands of victims who still have their feet in the mud. These residents who, for many, are still in shock. The first signs of depression and post-traumatic stress are also beginning to appear.
The mud is still everywhere in Algemesi. This ocher mud which devastated the city, entered homes and also remains in everyone's heads. At Maria-José and her husband José-Luis, the current took everything away. “A disaster,” they say.
“I am ruined, I have nothing left. I am more dead than alive”
José-Luis, resident of Algemesiat franceinfo
The day after the flood, José-Luis had a heart attack. Stress, according to his wife, who now fears that her husband will sink into depression. Faced with the extent of the disaster, man despairs : “I don't know what I would have preferred, to die or to see what awaits me today“. Before being taken over by Maria-José, “don't say that, at least we're alive. Thanks to God” she consoles herself.
In the street littered with trash and car wrecks, Hayat passes with a bag of groceries collected from volunteers. Exhausted, she explains that her “My daughter had a panic attack this morning, and I was crying from all the accumulated anxiety. My stomach hurts and if I don't take sleeping pills, I can't sleep.“
The mental health of the victims is one of the major problems, two weeks after the disaster. On the ground, in contact with residents, psychologist Laetitia Pellicer-Bossis is already seeing after-effects linked to this traumatic event. For example, “constant exhaustion, muscle pain, physiological, dermatological and gastric problems. Anxiety-depressive disorders, namely problems with concentration, memory, sleep disorders“. According to her, there is a need for emergency care for these victims. Unfortunately, there are still many victims cut off from the world.
“If we don’t go out into the streets to look for these people, they are completely abandoned”assures Victor. This doctor travels around the town of Catarroja with his team of volunteers, looking for elderly, disabled people or people suffering from psychological problems. Two weeks after the disaster, there are still people isolated, water everywhere, power cuts, businesses closed. Victor says that the “People stuck at home have health needs that are increasing every day. We are talking about very vulnerable people who are left to their own devices. And if we don't go door to door trying to find them, they go unnoticed.”
A return to normal seems impossible. Particularly in schools, still closed. And yet, the childrenneed normality“, confides Maria, a teacher at Algemesi. So while waiting for the students, the teacher and her colleagues follow special training “to know how to act, how to welcome them and how to return to school”, continues Maria. Finding the right words to speak to children, the priority of teachers and psychologists in the region in the coming days.
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