The management of the dana Adam, which has impacted the Valencian Community almost two years after the flood that left 233 dead in Valencia, has reopened among victim associations the memory of what happened on October 29, 2024, and has left, according to their spokespersons, a clear conclusion: when risk is not minimized and alerts arrive on time, lives can be saved.
The president of the Association of Fatal Victims of the 2024 Dana, Rosa Álvarez, stated that this time “there has been a significant improvement” in terms of alerts and coordination, although she stressed that, in her opinion, she does not understand why an “high orange alert” warning arrived in her area and that “does not exist”.
Rosa Álvarez: “It’s not that we have learned the lesson”
Rosa Álvarez has maintained that “it’s not that we have learned the lesson, simply all they have done is apply the existing protocols that had already been applied in the 2019 dana” in the Alicante region of Vega Baja, and has considered it “inevitable” that the new dana has “stirred them up”.
In her account, she recalled that almost two years ago “we had no idea what was happening, nor where, nor to what extent; neither that day nor in the following ones,” and added that it was not a coordination problem, but that the Military Emergency Unit (UME) was being offered to the Generalitat “and they were rejecting it”.
Álvarez has also assured that “in her opinion”, the emergency services have met in advance, which “has made it clear that everything that could have been done in 2024 was not done”, and has stated that “now no one wants to do a Mazón”, in allusion to the former president of the Generalitat. Furthermore, she has defended that a timely alert “would have saved 99 percent of lives”, while highlighting that in this last dana, 850,000 people were confined.
“The risk has not been minimized,” says Mariló Gradolí
The president of the Association of Victims of the 2024 Dana, Mariló Gradolí, has pointed out that there is talk of greater coordination in the dana Adam, but has considered that what is relevant is that now “the risk has not been minimized, as was done in the 2024 dana”, but rather the existing danger has been transmitted.
Gradolí has also criticized that the vice president of the Valencian Government, Susana Camarero, has claimed that “they have learned from the dana”, and has replied: “It would be the least we could expect after what we have experienced, not to learn anything.”
“They have learned, yes, but they have not assumed responsibilities”, she lamented, and added that the same people who managed the 2024 dana are still in the Consell, whose images and effects, she said, have made them suffer by seeing again the impact of torrential rains on the southern coast of Valencia and the north of Alicante.
“Nothing to do with two years ago,” according to Elisabeth González
The vice president of the Association of Victims and Affected by the 2024 Valencia Dana, Elisabeth González, has stated that the management of the latest dana “had nothing to do” with that of two years ago, and has defended that good coordination and adequate work “save lives”.
“What was not done two years ago, has been done now”, explained González, who specified that this time there have been many previous meetings and numerous warnings to the population, while in 2024 they did not meet until October 29 at 5 in the afternoon, something she described as “lamentable and inexplicable”.
González has also pointed out that victim associations feel “quite identified” with those affected by the dana Adam, because they know what it means to lose everything “overnight”, and has detailed that they are collecting material to send them a donation this week with items such as dehumidifiers, shovels and cleaning equipment.