The DANA that hit the southeast of the peninsula—with a special impact on Valencia—at the end of October has had an incalculable impact: human losses, devastated crop fields, flooded houses, destroyed infrastructure and cars and hundreds of memories buried under the mud. According to the AEMET, this is an “extraordinary” episode of rainfall, but it would not be strange to foresee similar incidents with greater frequency and virulence due to climate change.
Leaving aside the global political management of the situation, there are two groups that suffer more intensely the disastrous consequences of a storm of these characteristics: the homeless people and the most vulnerable familieswho usually live in more humble areas, in more precarious housing or even in substandard housing situations. Silenced voices that, beyond going through daily difficulties, face complete lack of protection in emergencies like DANA.
“Insufficient” resources for homelessness, according to Arrels
The director of Arrels Fundació, Beatriz Fernandezexplains to Public that, when extreme weather phenomena occur or in very cold times, Barcelona City Council, in coordination with Civil Protection, activates a number of sleeping places for people who “voluntarily want to sign up.” As a result of the rains experienced in Catalonia on Monday, November 4, the Barcelona city council sent a statement opening 100 beds – 80 for men and 20 for women – in the Emergency Reception Center (CAE)a facility located in Poblenou, next to the Barcelona Emergency and Social Emergencies Center (CUESB).
This facility serves people who have lost their home due to an exceptional situation such as a fire, flood or landslide. According to the City Council, it also has a “key” role in broader social emergencies, but, according to Fernández, “It is a very temporary resource” which closes as soon as Civil Protection warns that the crisis is over. “Extreme weather events are becoming more common and “solutions for vulnerable people are insufficient”he adds.
According to Arrels’ latest count, a total of 1,384 people lived on the streets in Barcelona last December12% more than in 2022. A figure that, according to the director of the foundation, continues to “increase.” In fact, it is about the highest figure since 2008 records began to be made.
In the last Operation Cold in alert phase —temperatures dropped to zero degrees— that the City Council activated between the January 21 and 26, 2023there was a total of 266 places available. 75 CAE places; 93 additional places in the same equipment thanks to the installation of beds in multipurpose rooms; 18 places exclusively for women in the Short Stay Center (CEB), on the upper floor of CUESB itself, and 80 places in the facilities of the Dos de Maig passage. According to the council, during the five nights that this phase lasted “No one was rejected due to lack of places”.
“Stable” solutions, not responses “due to the impact of a climate phenomenon”
One of the reasons why not all homeless people go to this type of facility is because, directly, they no longer want to go. “Some have been sleeping on the street for a long time and have already made their space, they know they can sleep there every day and they have a minimal neighborhood network. Having to leave for a few days is of no use to them, they may have lost their shelter when they return.“, argues Fernández. Furthermore, “sometimes not all belongings or pets are accepted at the CAE,” he adds.
Even so, the director of Arrels points out that these temporary facilities cannot be the “solution to homelessness” and that the administration cannot act “due to climate phenomenon”but rather “stable” resources are needed. From his point of view, the valid answer is the right to housing: “From today to tomorrow we cannot build 1,300 apartments, but in coordination with the City Council and the Generalitat we can work towards thousands of stable accommodations.”
The most vulnerable families require more attention
In addition to the homeless, families with fewer economic resources They also suffer even more from the effects of climate change. While they may be able to shelter a little better from the cold—although some struggle to pay their heating bills—they are more likely to fall victim to inclement weather because their neighborhoods and buildings are less cared for and protected.
To give just one example, according to the map of the flood zones of Catalonia, Sant Adrià del Besòs It is one of the municipalities with the highest risk of flooding, where 86% of its 37,283 inhabitants may be potentially affected. If we look at the latest data from Idescat for 2021, the gross disposable family income (RFDB) per inhabitant in this town is 15,885 euros. In Barcelona, the figure rises to 21,847 euros. It is evident that there are also flood-prone areas in richer municipalities, but they will have more capacity for protection or restoration once the emergency is over.
According to Alexandra GabarroHead of International Cooperation, Human Rights, IHL and Environment of the Red Cross, “economic, work, family or health circumstances can condition the possibilities of facing a flooda heat wave or a drought episode.” According to her, “it is necessary to pay more attention to the groups that suffer the effects of the intersection between the various axes of vulnerability, such as gender, immigration status, age or social class”. These people will suffer “in an aggravated manner” from the impact of the climate which, although it affects the entire population, “will have a special impact, both in the long and short term, making their personal recovery process difficult.”
Asked about the first effects after an event like DANA, Gabarró explains to Public that “are related to the difficulty of covering basic needs“: access to food, water, sanitation, health care, psychosocial support, accommodation… However, the consequences extend to material damage caused to their homes, which are “generally more precarious.”
For her part, the coordinator of the Red Cross in Catalonia, Anna Sabatestates that “the least visible part of the emergency is the recovery and rebuilding communities after the disaster. To return minimally to normal, he estimates that months or even years of work will be needed in some areas.
In this sense, he points out that, after a disaster, they always prepare “a response plan” where they identify and temporalize the needs, as well as “a portfolio of projects to be developed in the medium term in the post-emergency.” The main objective during the crisis is to “save lives”, but the subsequent work focuses on “continuing to care for the affected people, both materially and emotionally, in the sustained support for groups that were already vulnerable before the disaster (older people, migrants, children), in the promotion of social well-being and community reactivation and, finally, in the strengthening of citizenship to respond to future emergencies.”
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