From the ‘Jaime I’ military base in Bétera, before traveling by helicopter to the amphibious assault ship Galicia, The King addressed the media this afternoon to highlight that the soldiers working in the DANA emergency “have very high spirit and morale”: “There is no greater gratitude for them than that,” said Don Felipe. “The experience for them is absolutely extraordinary on a professional and personal level, especially because for most of them it hits close to home.” The King thanked the soldiers for their dedication and their work “shoulder to shoulder, shoulder to shoulder, human to human. But with one heart.
In this sense, Don Felipe valued “the response of the citizens and the gratitude they show” to the Armed Forces, especially because they are working on “unforeseen needs”, which change all the time “and adapting to the emergency.”
The King conveyed that the Royal Family’s support for the DANA victims “will be continuous”, as they have stated since the beginning of the emergency. About your next week’s visit with the Queenhas said that they will come “with the same spirit” as always, to be at the side of the Valencian people.
At the ‘Jaime I’ military base in Bétera, on the outskirts of Valencia, the Army monitors through giant screens the 72 areas affected by DANA, which on October 29 caused an unprecedented flood in the Valencian Community that has claimed, so far, 214 lives. Felipe VI traveled to Bétera this afternoon wearing the arid field uniform of the Army, in the company of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, to learn first-hand about the missions carried out by the Armed Forces, in coordination with the Military Emergency Unit (UME).
This visit by the King occurs after he and the Queen canceled all their institutional events after the DANA occurred and nine days after they were received in Paiporta shouting “Murderers!” for attending alongside the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón. The Valencian people hold the two politicians responsible of the mistakes made in the management of the crisis, of the military aid arriving so late and of the fatalities of this DANA.
In a context of abandonment and tension such as that experienced in the areas declared catastrophic, the central and regional governments and the King’s House were forced to suspend the visit of the Kings, Sánchez and Mazón to Chiva. Don Felipe and Doña Letizia They promised to return and, as the Zarzuela Palace announced today, the visit of the Kings will take place at the beginning of next week, although the areas to which they will go have not yet been revealed.
The Kings were next to the victims nine days ago to accompany them and have continued to do so since then, following the evolution of what is happening in the towns and holding meetings at the Zarzuela Palace with businessmen from the area and institutions that can help. The DANA catastrophe is their priority. Therefore, before Don Felipe Traveling tomorrow to Cuenca (Ecuador) for the Ibero-American Summit, the King wanted to return to Valencia to visit the Bétera military base, the Galicia ship and the logistics base of the Valencia Trade Fair.
Pasta with tuna and meatballs
To Bétera –where the High Availability Land Headquarters (CGTAD) is located, which is one of the four bodies that make up the Army Force–, The King arrived after two in the afternoon. He ate pasta with tuna and grilled meatballs in the base canteen with the troops, where Robles was also present, and then visited the UME Command Post, of the Emergency Intervention Battalion (BIEM III), located in the center of the base, where the Chief Lieutenant General of the UME, Javier Marcos, explained the current situation in the affected areas, together with the head of the third battalion, Ángel Martínez Puy.
The King was also with Lieutenant Colonel Briones, head of the force of the air contingent of the Air Force, which has more than 600 troops. According to Briones, when everyone finishes their respective shifts, no one wants to go home to rest on their days off. Here they support the interventions of the UME. «We arrived on November 1 and the activities have been very varied, from collecting debris and mud to night surveillancein addition to some search,” said Lieutenant Colonel Briones, while thanking Felipe VI for the presence in Bétera: “His visit gives us enough encouragement to continue here.”
Don Felipe did not stop asking the commanders about each and every one of the emergencies in which the military has participated so far in the areas affected by DANA. When finished, in the same square at the base where the Command Post is located, he said goodbye to the troops before getting on the Super Puma helicopter with which he came from Madrid.
The visit to the Bétera military base lasted so long that the King was unable to fly over the mountains in the helicopter. affected areas and went directly to the amphibious assault ship Galicia, the second stop of his visit, in the Port of Valencia.
A total of 8,445 troops deployed
On the Navy ship, with a capacity to accommodate 800 members of the Armed Forces, the King visited the hospital and infirmary on board, in addition to the Intensive Care Unit, the two operating rooms and the laboratory. From the ship, a total of 310 soldiers who make up its crew, coordinate with the UME for tasks that they consider require greater urgency, such as cleaning streets and homes in areas affected by DANA.
From the Bétera base and the Galicia ship, the military coordinates with the different Advanced Command Posts of the UME, which are on the ground, in the affected localitiesamong them Catarroja – which has control over Catarroja and Albal – or Paiporta, the most damaged areas. In total, according to the head of the UME, there are 8,445 displaced people in the area.
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