It was known that the Mediterranean was a ticking time bomb. Some of us have been warning for so long, and with such precision, that it is very hard to think about what more we could have said or done to avoid, at least, part of the enormous pain that this tragedy has meant and will mean for the people most affected.
That the current management and planning of the territory, based on a world that no longer exists, is a public danger, it was known. What could not be imagined is the enormous number of prevention, warning and subsequent coordination errors that, on top of that, we were going to have to suffer. There must be those responsible, criminally, even, for such a tragedy.
It is also known that there are a series of emergencies that must be attended to as a priority in an event like this. Right now – on November 2 – there are still places without electricity, without water, without food, but with debris and water (and even corpses, human and non-human) accumulating along with garbage and chemicals of a very varied nature in the basements and garages, with the danger that this poses for public health and for the conservation of the foundations of some buildings. This is what we need to focus on immediately.
It is known that DANAs and other even worse extreme phenomena are coming. Or should
It is also known that DANAs and other even worse extreme phenomena are coming. Or should. Because many lives are involved in it. And this is where we need to focus very brightly and intensely in the medium term.
Gloria, one of the most devastating recent storms, and that can be repeated almost every yeartook place in the month of January 2020. January. Calculate. There are a few months left in which the risk of suffering such an event again is enormous taking into account all the scientific evidence that indicates that the Mediterranean is destabilizing much faster than other places.
Consider that, furthermore, we do not have anywhere near, hopefully!, neither the atmospheric nor the oceanic temperature of 2020. This atmospheric temperature (+1.6ºC compared to pre-industrial levels, above the safety limit), this temperature of the surface of the Mediterranean Sea (+2ºC above the 1981-2000 average), this amount of precipitable water (in records since there have been records) guarantees tragedies of great magnitude, because these variables tell us how much energy is available and the real risk of extraordinary events. The food for these phenomena that are being distributed everywhere is “a year’s rain in a single day” alternating with persistent droughts.
This unusual warming of the atmosphere and ocean has gone faster than climate models have been able to predict. This has happened faster than the most moderate voices (even from the scientific community itself) have wanted or known how to warn.
This changes everything. Or should.
We have some models for a climate that no longer exists.
We have infrastructure for a climate that no longer exists.
We have conflict management and personnel coordination protocols for a context that no longer exists either. Regional, national and even European plans – at least for the Mediterranean – are essential.
We have rulers so incapable that with a climate like this, they also have to cease to exist (as rulers, that is).
In fact, we have a model of political action that is also absolutely obsolete. And the disastrous management of a catastrophe demonstrates this with the painful evidence of the consequences.
You don’t have to review the newspaper archive much to see that in this one, as in previous catastrophes, the political representatives have gone far behind the needs of the population and the spontaneous responses of citizen solidarity.
All protocols must be reviewed.
All infrastructure planning.
Educating citizens themselves to react to these types of situations.
The coordination of troops from other regions and other countries. ALL. Because it will happen again, and most likely, even worse.
And we better catch us better prepared. And without being alienated by the business, ruling the ship, and even daring to denounce the AEMET – the one who sailed with narcosit’s just that things are crazy – when they have been so short-sighted, so negligent, so criminal, to ignore all the warnings. The agency reported quickly and correctly at 7:31 on October 29, giving the red alert, and even days before the risks. And the management depended on that man who, unlike the AEMET, has ended up deleting tweets, perhaps because he knows that they could have criminal consequences.
That after activating the mud machine (in this case, terribly literal) for their incompetence, on top of that they activate the other media mud machinesto try to cover their shame with the fan by throwing shit, even complaining to AEMET itself, is simply criminal. No pamphlet that fueled such dangerous delusions should be allowed to be published again. We have a tremendous media problem with the Indas, the Íker Jiménez or the Bosés, all so applauded by a mindless media claque, which makes the other problems very difficult to tackle.
We will talk another day about the opportunism of some businessmen who aggravated the tragedy with their intransigence, and the defense of sacrosanct private property (when now what would have to be managed is precisely even emergency housing alternatives for those people who are still trapped).
#Emergency #text #DANA
