Dozens of volunteers circumvent the restrictions and enter DANA’s ground zero: “It is the people who are helping the people”

Five days after the tragedy, rescue efforts continue unabated in Valencia. The area that was hit by a terrible DANA last Tuesday continues with devastated streets full of debris and mud and dozens of missing people continue to be searched. The outpouring of solidarity in recent days has been such that in the last few hours the Integrated Operational Coordination Center (Cecopi) decided that this Sunday the passage of people, on foot or by car, would be restricted to a dozen municipalities in which the excess of volunteers could make extinction tasks difficult.

Thus, the movement of people in twelve municipalities has been limited since 6 in the morning. However, this Sunday early in the day some volunteers have decided to draw the police checks and approach Benetússer or Paiporta because they understand that there is a lot to do and they cannot sit idly by.

«If it weren’t for the people here they would all be dead of hunger because the only thing that has been seen these days are the people who have had the initiative to come and now, when they have started, the only thing they have done are obstacles,” lamented a young man who was preparing to go to the most affected with the backpack and a broom in the backpack. He remembered that a cousin of his was fined for parking to go help. “They used tow trucks to remove the cars from the fines instead of coming to remove cars here,” he laments.

Another volunteer, very indignant, went to Paiporta “despite the fact that “They have told us not to go.”. She believed that today’s restrictions were due to the visit of authorities and because they did not want people to see what the security forces are not doing. “It is the people who are helping the people,” she recalls, indignant at how poorly the catastrophe is being managed.