Spain is still shocked by the tragedy experienced in Valencia after the passage of DANA. Hundreds of dead, a number of missing people that remains unknown – with the fear that this causes – and millions and millions in losses. It could have been even worse, because the increasingly evident inability of Carlos Mazón to manage the catastrophebefore and after, is not exclusive to the Valencian Community. Just a few hours apart, In Malaga, we suffered the scourge of DANA, causing the Guadalhorce River to overflow.. There was only one death. There was luck, not good management.
Very little is written and spoken about what we experienced in Malaga just before the devastation of Valencia and it is logical, since the dimensions of the tragedy are not comparable, neither in terms of people killed nor material damage. However, the government of Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla cannot take pride in this, rather dry the cold sweat because it was a matter of luck. If the rainfall had intensified, we would almost certainly have replicated the tragedy, skyrocketing the almost 2,000 recorded incidents.
The damage has been very extensive. The Junta de Andalucía has prepared a ‘DANA Decree’ with at least 75 million euros in aid directed to 285 Andalusian municipalities. In Málaga, the towns of Álora, Pizarra, Valle de Abdalajís, Cártama, Almogía or Carratraca took the worst part; On Tuesday, October 29 alone, the Provincial Firefighters Consortium (CPB) carried out almost a hundred interventions. The Malaga Provincial Council has also articulated an aid plan and the box office from the Basketball Champions League match between Unicaja and Filou Oostende, along with the same amount from the Unicaja Foundation, will go towards aid.
As in the Valencian case, the alerts did not work. In Malaga, it’s not even that they were late, it’s that they didn’t even arrive. The Es-Alert system that sends messages to the population’s mobile phones was not activated. Paradoxically, One day later and the Valencia tragedy was already known, the government of Moreno Bonilla did decide to activate it in Cádizunder conditions very similar to those we had experienced in Malaga. What changed? Ultimately, in both cases there was a red alert from AEMET and this system allows the alerts to be discriminated by municipalities. Simple: Valencia.
The magnitude of the tragedy was already beginning to take shape and the Board did not want to take the risk as, in fact, they did in Malaga. In retrospect, the advisor to the Presidency, Antonio Sanz (PP), has boasted of his good work, but it was a matter of pure fortune. With the same AEMET red alert as in Valencia, the rainfall was finally less, but it may not have been the case. Those who returned home from their jobs or picked up their sons or daughters from school did so by their own decision, not because of the advice and protection expected from the Administration.
Sanz justifies his decision by, according to him, the need to rationalize this type of notice so that it does not lose effectiveness. As if relying on the story of the wolf, the Andalusian government says it does not want to issue an alert, so that there will be no misfortunes to regret and the population will later take it lightly. As he points out, “let no one get used to it”. Instead and in the face of a red alert from the AEMET, Moreno Bonilla prefers to play Russian roulette with citizens and not affect the paralysis of businesses. Who does the Andalusian president think he is to make such a far-reaching decision about our lives? It will always, always be better to activate an alert and have nothing to regret than to risk not doing so and experiencing a catastrophe like the one in Valencia. What seems obvious to any person with common sense, seems to escape Moreno Bonilla.
Not even after seeing the images of municipalities like Paiporta and knowing that the deaths exceed 200 people, the Andalusian Government is in favor of listening to AEMET. The Presidency advisor prefers to warn citizens through channels such as X (formerly Twitter) or ads on Meta (Facebook/Instagram)as if all people were users of such social networks, ignoring that, for example, in the segment of older people it is residual.
If there was any doubt, the population has already become aware and, if they receive an alert on their cell phone, they will act accordingly; Failure to do so will be your responsibility. However, if no warning is received when there is objective technical data for this, the responsibility falls on the side of the Administration. There is no worse government than one that does not protect its citizens and does not pursue the common good. Well, these are different features of Moreno Bonilla’s management. In the same way that with its management of Public Health it seriously damages the health of Andalusians, now with its approach to alerts it plays Russian roulette with our lives. This time there was no bullet in the barrel of the revolver, but next time it could blow our brains out..
#Malaga #luck #good #management
