“They are afraid of being deported because they see that there is a very relevant police deployment. It is the neighbors who bring them food and water. It is a reality that has always happened to them, but that is now aggravated by DANA.” This is Andrea Sixto, president of Medicos del Mundo Comunitat Valenciana. This vulnerable group finds itself in a position of constant anxiety: “They are forced to wander in search of refuge, often in neighborhoods with a strong police and military presence. They prefer not to go out or expose themselves publicly. “We are deeply concerned about their well-being as we do not know for sure how they are surviving or how they are managing their basic needs.”
The unregularized migrants who have suffered the DANA try to avoid any procedure with the administrations because they feel fear about their future, as Sixto says, and assures that several people have told them that the security forces were looking for racialized profiles for the acts. of looting in the commercial center of Bonaire.
For more than 30 years, the international organization has been responsible for assisting the most vulnerable groups, such as the homeless, those in an irregular situation and women in situations of prostitution and sexual exploitation: “We are 140 volunteers and volunteers, the majority with a socio-health profile. “We have been monitoring the people we already work with to detect their needs in relation to the disaster, especially regarding basic supplies, physical health and mental health.”
Furthermore, they explain that “coordination with other third sector entities” involves necessary networking: “We have activated the mechanisms of collaboration from the Valencian Coordinator of NGDOs to share common problems. And the same with Farmamundi, in this case, to detect some type of need related to drugs.” To this, he adds that it would be impossible to advance on issues of this caliber alone.
Boutaina El Hadri, vice president of Casa Morocco, manager at JoveSólides and vice president of the Valencian Immigration Council, explains to elDiario.es that at first, the Moroccan association decided to focus on urgent tasks such as cleaning flooded homes or distribution of food and drinking water. Now, with the team of volunteers, they are in charge of preparing hot dishes and donating cleaning and hygiene products; and blankets and clothing to cover the most basic needs. In their case, at Casa Morocco the food they handle is totally halal because “many of the families” cannot supply themselves with the food that is distributed, since most of it includes pork or does not “meet the requirements” allowed in the religion.
“Many people are unaware of this reality. The Muslim community is facing great difficulty because most of the butcher shops in those areas have been damaged. In Valencia we are also experiencing a supply shortage,” says El Hadri.
Lack of knowledge about fundamental rights
The information barrier is one of the main problems that the migrant community has to face. They feel helpless or unaware of the rights they can access. One of them is access to universal health and many times it is the organizations themselves who act as loudspeakers to convey this data: “This is due to a lack of clear mechanisms or specific attention for them,” says the spokesperson for the NGO. .
Behind that first wall, the administration, represented on a large scale by the registration, would represent an additional weight in his development as another citizen of the territory. It symbolizes a gateway to the rest of social areas, among which is the health card: “It was already a complicated issue before DANA, but now it is difficult because the resources must also reach these people who also need to maintain their well-being . Institutions have to pay special attention to that.”
Other vertices that Doctors of the World also highlight is the possible lack of a family or social support network or the language or cultural barrier that migrants may experience, which prevents them from sharing their shortcomings: “It makes them leave where they came without nothing because no one understands their language.”
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— Zeben Acosta (@ZAAZZA77) November 7, 2024
Precarious conditions
Before the devastation caused by the great flood, many family units were already living in poor conditions, in neighborhoods located on the outskirts and within working class areas. Now, dozens of those affected have had to witness how their personal belongings became unusable, and there are even those who have had to face a family loss.
“If they already had a precarious housing situation before, the conditions in which they live now are much worse. We have received some cases that have been able to stay in designated places such as pavilions or shelters,” says Sixto.
Concern about the disappearance of unregularized people is critical. The associations in which El Hadri operates are currently exploring initiatives to “collaborate with other entities and support networks to facilitate the identification and location of unregularized people” without entailing legal harm. “The priority must be to safeguard their comfort and ensure their access to the necessary help,” he clarifies.
Furthermore, he denounces that during the first week of the natural disaster the media did not include migrants or racialized people in their agendas, overshadowing “the real diversity of society” in the collective imagination.
The extreme right incites hatred
To make matters worse, not even in the worst scenario has the extreme right stopped fueling hatred. More than a week has passed since the flood and accounts on always with racist and xenophobic arguments.
“We must promote a culture of reporting to confront hoaxes, something that is still missing within our group. The entities are in charge of denying these rumors. We usually share stories of migrants to make them visible,” says El Hadri.
Along similar lines, the spokesperson for these organizations insists that the entire society has the obligation to stop this type of hate crimes that stigmatize a specific group of the population and that “further aggravate the vulnerability in which they already find themselves.” ”. “In times of crisis, solidarity must prevail over rejection, and that is why we try to publish testimonies from people affected by DANA, as well as those who have supported people through donations, cleaning work or other tasks to raise awareness and promote empathy and collaboration,” he highlights.
The attribution of thefts with phrases such as “they are always the same” or “they are their customs”; or “the privileges that the Sánchez Government grants them over the Spanish” are some of the misinformation that floods the networks and spreads easily, diverting attention from the havoc that DANA has caused in hundreds of human beings. Regularized or not.
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