The Government has decreed official mourning for the days October 31 and November 1 and 2 for the victims of DANA that has devastated the east and southeast of the peninsula and that, for now, has left at least 70 deadamong which there are children and babies. Furthermore, the Executive has announced that in the next Council of Ministers the catastrophic zone declarations for all those affected for this cold drop, although it has also asked citizens to “proactively” inform and request the corresponding aid from their subdelegations and Government delegations.
“We are facing a very difficult situation and the most important thing is to call for civic behavior and respect the rules issued by Civil Protection,” said the Minister of Territorial Policy, Angel Victor Torresin a press conference after the meeting of the Crisis Committee that the Government has established to monitor the effects of the meteorological phenomenon. The meeting was chaired by the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, who will travel to Valencia this Thursday to visit the affected areaswhile the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, accompanied by the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, did the same this Wednesday in the municipality of Letur (Albacete).
“We are making every effort to collaborate with the Generalitat Valenciana and, once the autonomous community activated level 2, all the available means of the Government have been mobilized,” stated Torres, who has enlisted 1,116 members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and 344 vehicles, along with a helicopter and a plane, 200 Army soldiers, 750 Civil Guard personnel and 100 police and Civil Protection agents. The minister has also narrated the chronology of action by the Valencia Community and the Government.
According to the file, last Thursday, October 24, several alerts were given by Aemet, which activated the red alert at 7:31 a.m. this Tuesday, October 29. At 3:00 p.m. the Generalitat activates alert level 2 for the regions of Utiel, Requena and La Plana, which is not activated for Valencia until 7:17 p.m. The text message warning citizens is issued at 8:00 p.m. and at 8:36 p.m. the action of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) was requested from the Government.
The minister has also made a specific call to citizens to avoid traveling by road. “Let them stay in their homes, fundamentally those who are where the DANA goes,” Torres warned, who stressed that the country continues under its “consequences”, which also affects basic services such as water and energy. “We are collaborating with the Generalitat to achieve normality as soon as possible,” he stated.
The Government insists on asking citizens to follow the recommendations of the Aemet (https://www.aemet.es/) and avoid travel. “That is the most relevant advice,” Torres said. Although the consequences of DANA have not yet ceased, the Executive advances that it will declare the pertinent areas highly affected by the natural phenomenon on next Tuesday, November 6, in the Council of Ministersalthough it has also encouraged citizens to report damage to Government subdelegations. “The damage is very extensive, we cannot yet calculate the amount, but today the greatest loss is human,” lamented the minister.
The Crisis Committee to monitor DANA will continue meeting this afternoon and tomorrow will be chaired again by Sánchez, who has already spoken with the king, Philip VIto communicate the three-day mourning period and also with the regional presidents of the Valencian Community, Carlos Mazón, and of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page.
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