“Those who have kept us here working, without closing, have been our supervisors. They haven’t let us leave. It just can’t be. They have played with our lives“. Bárbara Jiménez has spent the first hours of DANA in the Bonaire Shopping Center from Valencia. The young woman works in one of the complex’s restaurants, which kept its doors open despite the weather forecast. The AEMET warned on Sunday of the possible risks and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation alerted at 5:30 p.m. this Tuesday of a situation of “extreme danger.” Neither the companies nor the authorities made any move until 8:12 p.m.. Barbara and her companions had to spend the night in the business park, “almost without food” or “places to sit,” because when they received the go-ahead from their bosses to leave the facilities, it was too late.
Another testimony confirms Public that “some workers couldn’t even leave [del centro comercial] when the alert arrived”, a notification they sent from the Generalitat late in the afternoon. Bonaire is in Aldaiain the metropolitan area of Valencia, 15 minutes by car from the center of the capital. The overflow of Barranc de la Saleta It caused flooding in a large part of the municipal area. The city of Valencia barely suffered the effects of DANA and the “worst part” was taken, as usual, by the peripheral areas.
Alfafar is another of the towns in the metropolitan belt, 14 kilometers south of the capital. Ikea has a three-story warehouse – plus parking – in the town. The Swedish company’s facilities served as a “refuge” for almost 700 people, a public service that does not cover up the company’s negligence in maintaining its usual opening hours. “At 7:30 p.m. we thought it was going to be a small floodbut in a matter of 15 or 20 minutes we saw that it was going to get worse. People were screaming for help, people clinging to streetlights. Around 5:00 in the morning the water level dropped and more people could shelter who was still stranded,” she explains to Public a worker
“The company did not consider suspending the work day at any time. We were at red alert levelbut [los supervisores] They had a false sense of security, they thought that what happened could not happen. They did not consider the possibility of us staying at home“, continues the employee. The staff took breaks “in shifts” to help those affected and give them food or “beds to sleep in.” Early this Wednesday, the workers were still on the ship on the recommendation of police authorities, who considered the Ikea facilities “a safe space.”
The polygon of Riba-roja de Túria20 kilometers from the capital, is experiencing a “very harmful” situation, in the words of its mayor, Robert Raga. “We are still removing workers from the industrial area. We are giving medical and psychological attention to those who need it,” insists the councilor. Public has received the testimony of a neighbor who has not heard from her brother since this Tuesday afternoon. The man works in a well-known tire and auto repair companylocated in one of the sectors of the polygon. Lassal, Mercadona, Glovo and Aquaservice are other large firms that have not taken measures against the effects of DANA.
“My partner works in the warehouses of a logistics company that is in the industrial zone of Riba-roja de Túria. The personnel have been trapped at the base since before 6:00 p.m.. The water swept away the cars, broke the dock doors and flooded the ships. When we talked, he told me that They were all on the second and third heights of the shelves.in a critical situation. The polygon has practically no coverage“, denounces in a message the wife of another of the affected workers. She and the rest of the family members They tried to call 112, “which was collapsed”and the Civil Guard confessed to them “that they could not do anything.”
Local authorities confirmed early this Wednesday afternoon that “close to 800 workers” were still trapped in business parks which are upstream of the Túria, “devastated” by the DANA. In Catarroja, torrential rains left a neighbor “locked” in the store where she works. “She had to make her schedule, like nothing was going to happen. We still have no news about her husband,” their niece denounces. AEMETin its report, contemplated the worst possible scenario. The companies, however, decided to maintain their usual work plan, forcing staff to travel so as not to miss their jobs.
The disaster caught hundreds of workers on the road who were returning home or returning with their delivery trucks to the ships. Some had to climb on the roof of the vehicles to avoid being submerged under water; Others remain missing. He president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazónbarely launched a series of general recommendations and went so far as to say, around 1:00 p.m., that the situation had signs of abating. “The storm moves towards the Serranía de Cuencaso it is expected that around 6:00 p.m. its intensity will decrease,” the leader exclaimed hours before the first landslides. popular, that dismantled the Valencian Emergency Unit as soon as he took office.
Labor asks employers for “responsibility”
The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diazhas asked companies for “responsibility” so that “no one works at risk.” The Sumar leader has also recalled that article 47.5 of the labor reform and article 14 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law They protect the workers, which is why they have insisted: “Do not be afraid” of being absent from their jobs. The main unions have also spoken out in these terms.
“At this time we still do not know how many workers are up on the roofs of their factories. The alerts are there to be respected. Public services have to provide a response in line with the situation and, from our point of view, this can improve substantially,” he claimed. Pepe Alvarezgeneral secretary of UGT. Ecologists in Action has also denounced the “despicable attitude” of those employers who forced staff to remain in their jobs, “putting” thousands of lives at risk.
CCOO has recalled that The regulations protect the exemption from the jobas well as the interruption of activity, in situations like the one experienced since this Monday in the Mediterranean arc. “We call on companies to protect the life and health of personnel and we urge the labor authorities to put in place surveillance and control mechanisms for the prevention of occupational risks,” the union warns. The Generalitat speaks of, at least, 92 dead and several dozen missing. The coordinator of a health center of the community has confirmed Public that the figure, given the “mismanagement from above”, could be even higher: “What I don’t know is how we don’t have more than 1,000 dead people.it has been chaos upon chaos.”
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