The Emergency Committee of the University of Valencia (UV), with 50,000 students, is not made up of physicists, geographers or meteorologists, but rather a group of vice-rectors, professors or heads of security and buildings. It is headed by the rector, Mavi Mestre. It was created to protect the university community against adversities of all kinds, from rain to terrorist alerts, to earthquakes, wind or any inclement weather or event that could put the lives of the people who study and work there at risk. He is also the one who faced the pandemic and its risks in 2020.
When the fateful Tuesday, October 29, arrived, there were no students on the UV campuses because the day before this committee had decided to cancel classes, making a decision as cautious as it was controversial: they decreed level 2 of their protocol – classes canceled – when no Almost a drop had fallen, and no one knew where it was going to fall. “I wish we had been wrong,” explains Justo Herrera, vice chancellor of Economy and Infrastructure and one of the people who coordinates the committee.
In fact, the university announcement was the subject of criticism from the president of the Generalitat himself. Carlos Mazón commented in an informal meeting at the end of Tuesday morning, in public, that at the University they had been “very exaggerated” and that DANA was under control, as elDiario.es has learned from sources present at the Palau de the Generalitat.
“At the University we know that, when you react late, the problem multiplies,” says Herrera, a doctor in Economics, who humbly admits that they have been learning from mistakes made. If they had let it pass, they would have suddenly found themselves at a level 4 risk on Tuesday, the maximum at the UV, with thousands of students within the faculties. “With that level of risk you have to leave them inside the buildings, they can no longer move, you must coordinate how to care for them, talk to the mayors and manage the evacuations… We are very aware that a risk is better than not catching them here inside or in transit.”
According to the latest official data from the University, there are 1,718 students who live in l’Horta Sud, ground zero of the tragedy. Although not everyone had moved, if classes had not been canceled many of those people would have been going or coming along roads that were flooded, increasing the tragedy that occurred in the early afternoon. To that figure must be added the employees or teachers who live in that area.
What tools did the Emergency Committee – which includes campus deans, vice-rectors for Heritage and Students or maintenance headquarters and changes its composition depending on the type of danger – use to activate an alert, while the Valencia City Council opened schools and the Did the Generalitat minimize the risks? “We draw from the same sources, the reports that Aemet gave and the notices that Emergències of the Generalitat Valenciana gave on their networks.”
That is, with less up-to-the-minute information and without specialist departments, they made a better decision. Herrera explains it with an argument. “Managing risk is not so much about knowing a lot about something, but about managing and knowing how to pilot the moment.” He believes that the plurality of the committee helps a lot, because there are many groups and areas represented, from which the leaks are found, such as those who have seen trees bending or those who know the weaknesses of their campus or have felt the atmosphere among the students. “There are many points of view. All these nuances help, because here [en la gestión de riesgos] “There are no absolute truths.” Furthermore, closing campuses is a decision that, if proven exaggerated, does not have enormous consequences.
Monday. One day before DANA
On Monday at 10:30 a.m., the UV emergency group communicated by email and was alerted: Aemet issued an orange alert. “Our community moves by public transportation and road, mobility here is very important. It was not known where the rains were going to fall. At that moment we thought that on the Ontinyent campus, like the last time.”
At 5:30 p.m. the situation was updated and it seemed that it was not good. There was a debate about whether to decree risk level 1 (mandatory attendance activities, such as exams or deliveries, are suspended) or level 2 (total suspension of classes). “But at 7:30 p.m. we made the decision that it was prudent to cancel classes, after we saw that in Enguera and some municipalities in the metropolitan area the mayors were beginning to close the schools.” At that moment “the committee agrees and at 8:00 p.m., we released a statement.” It spread massively. Since they know that students rarely open email, they sent it through networks and broadcast lists, which could be repetitive, but they ensured that everyone knew about it.
Tuesday. A few hours before DANA
Tuesday morning is when the Aemet decreed the red warning for rain. The UV had suspended classes, but the staff had gone to work, there was administrative and service activity. “We met again, now physically in the Rectorate building.” There, a review was made of the incidents caused by the announced rains. “There were very few.”
As in this entire terrible episode, heaven did not anticipate the dangers of what was coming, just as there were flooded towns where not a drop fell. “That morning we reviewed whether there were affected roofs, whether there had been landslides, damaged trees, whether it was necessary to mark out… These are the usual protocols, which are not evident until they fail.”
With the red alert from Aemet, the committee decides to take another step in the middle of the morning: “The outlook suggests that the metropolitan area around us could become complicated and we have people working here. Given the doubt of not being able to send them home later, we sent them at that moment.” The email sent to the educational community raising the risk to level 3 – all activity on campus is suspended – is from 12:00 noon. “Our people were already home when it all started.”
After the lack of prevention and warning management by the Generalitat, the behavior of the University has been set as an example. Herrera is satisfied with having contributed to security, although he admits that the cost of being too cautious is lower in his field than in that of an administration: “Erring as alarmist in our case does not have so many consequences, it is losing a day of class.” ”, which gives them more freedom to focus on the risks. “I believe that our operation is quite effective and we pay attention to it,” concludes Herrera.
According to the latest data collected by the University of Valencia, after the floods there are 9,300 students and 1,700 workers who cannot go to the campuses because they have mobility problems or the roads have been damaged. They have just approved that UV activities will be online until December 5, like the rest of the universities with campuses in the province and at the request of the Generalitat Valenciana. “For the people who have been directly affected, it is not even contemplated that they return and we will help them in everything,” concludes Herrera, one of the people who saw it coming and piloted the alert.
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