Five days before the second anniversary of the DANA, the associations of victims and affected people once again point out the pending responsibilities for the management of the emergency. The flood of October 29, 2024, left 233 dead in the province of Valencia and a wound that remains open among those who lost their relatives or survived the floods. "We are going to reach two years and we feel that we are still at square one," they lament.
Rosa Álvarez, Mariló Gradolí, and Elisabeth González, representatives of three associations of victims and affected people, describe in an interview with 'Europa Press' a discomfort that brings together grief, lack of reparation, and fear of another catastrophe. They also reject that the PP once again includes Carlos Mazón in its regional lists or facilitates his designation as territorial senator, two scenarios they fear will prolong the immunity of the former president.
The warnings sent during the last storms have reopened the comparison with that afternoon in 2024, when the ES-Alert message reached mobile phones at 8:11 p.m. Álvarez attributes the current differences to the application of protocols and greater coordination. "Now nobody wants to do a Mazón, simply," says the president of the Association of Fatal Victims of DANA 29O, who lost her father in Catarroja.
Gradolí questions that the institutional response is presented as sufficient learning to close what happened. "That mantra that we have learned is not valid for us because learning also means assuming responsibilities and they have not been assumed," she maintains. González also rejects that the debate is reduced to warning residents not to go down to the garages and recalls that the water also reached a deadly height in the streets of Paiporta.
Victims reject that the PP prolongs Mazón's immunity
Mazón's possible continuity in a position that allows him to remain immune concentrates a large part of the indignation of the groups. "It would be a great shame; a brazenness and an insult to Valencians," Gradolí warns about a new candidacy or his arrival in the Senate. The associations reproach the PP for not having demanded that he hand over the regional act he retains after leaving the Presidency of the Generalitat.
Mazón remains a deputy in Les Corts and is not under investigation in the Catarroja case. The Valencian High Court of Justice refused to open an investigation against him in March and confirmed that decision in April, as it did not find sufficient evidence of a crime or attribute to him a specific legal obligation to act in the emergency. The Associació de Víctimes de la DANA 29 d'Octubre appealed to the Constitutional Court in June to challenge the application of his parliamentary immunity.
The investigation into the management of the catastrophe continues with former councilor Salomé Pradas and former regional secretary for Emergencies Emilio Argüeso as investigated for alleged negligent homicides and injuries. In an order dated October 13, the judge found evidence that the deaths in La Torre could have been avoided if both had exercised their functions in accordance with civil protection regulations. This is an assessment during the investigation, pending a definitive judicial resolution.
Pradas defends that "no one should be charged" in the procedure. The associations maintain their confidence in the investigation and hope that responsibilities will be clarified. Álvarez hopes that next year an oral trial will be opened against the two former heads of Emergencies. The investigation has been extended for six months from next October 30, given the statements, reports and proceedings that remain to be carried out.
Fear returns with the rain and repair is still pending
The passage of time has also made it more difficult to live with the losses. "The absence is much more palpable, there are no longer any psychological deceptions that work for you and reality becomes evident," explains Álvarez. Gradolí describes what happens every time bad weather returns. "Two years later, when it rains, we still feel fear, our stomachs still churn and it takes us back again to October 29, 2024."
The representatives reproach the Consell for the treatment received and psychological care that they consider insufficient. Gradolí denounces that he tried to discredit the associations; Álvarez maintains that the psychologist device initially announced was quickly withdrawn and recalls the restrictions that prevented family members from approaching the place where the deceased were. "That has marked us forever," she states, pointing to the then councilor Nuria Montes.
The three highlight the support of the Emergency Mental Health Units, promoted by the Ministry of Health, whose continuity they demanded. According to the balance presented this month by the Mental Health commissioner, the device has accumulated some 4,300 interventions, both individual and group, and will extend its activity until November 30, 2027. González reminds that those who survived and saw other people die also need help.
The reconstruction requires, in her opinion, reviewing the exposure of municipalities to new floods. González denounces that damages have been repaired without yet having the hydraulic infrastructures that she considers necessary. The associations demand a multidisciplinary team with a prominent role for geographers, to study where and how to build, and ask that decisions on sending alerts fall to a cabinet of experts.
