The Minister of Justice and Interior and head of Emergencies of the Generalitat Valenciana, Salomé Pradas, acknowledged this Thursday that she was unaware of the existence of the system for sending mass alerts to the population’s cell phones until 8:00 p.m. on October 29 , at which time the floods caused by DANA were already devastating a large part of the province.
In an interview given to regional television À PuntPradas has explained that at eight in the afternoon he received a call from the Secretary of State for Ecological Transition from Minister Teresa Ribera, informing him that he is in Colombia and informing him that “he cannot guarantee that the Forata dam will not break.” “.
“That’s when A technician informs us that there is a mechanism called ES-Alertwhich is not regulated for now, which is not in our regional plans, which is still a draft that is in the Civil Protection Committee to be approved. It is when they give us this information, I insist, the only verbal information regarding the Forata dam, that we decide to activate ES-Alert, a unanimous decision by CECOPI and advised by the technicians,” the counselor remarked.
However, the Ministry of the Interior, through the General Directorate of Civil Protection, carried out the corresponding tests two years ago to verify the operation of the ES-Alert protocol in several Autonomous Communities. So, In the Valencian Community the drill was carried out on October 27, 2022during the Botànic Government. The test took place in the town of l’Eliana, where the 112 CV Emergency Coordination Center is located.
In another order of things, Pradas has entered into the controversy against the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, by ensuring that Barnabas was not conveying to them any information he might have.. According to his version provided in that interview, in a first contact the delegate only told him that she had just had a meeting with her team and a previous press conference “where she said that the complications can go away after 6:00 p.m.” .
On the morning of October 29, Bernabé held a press conference in response to the red alert for rain after a meeting with government agencies, in which he spoke about the road situation, that all personnel were prepared, and pointed out that the The forecast was “in principle” until 6:00 p.m., although an extension was not ruled out because it was expected to rain “throughout the day and we must be attentive and very cautious.”
“No alarming data”
Pradas has insisted that in that communication “that is what she says. It is what conveys to me, the same thing that she had just said in that press conference. It is not at all about the deployment of the EMU. At that moment “She does not convey any alarming information to me,” he said and denied that at that time she offered to deploy the EMU “at a specific point or for a specific emergency.”
“I insist, They do not give us any information on how this DANA evolves. And in fact, it is from the mayor of Utiel that we found out that the floods are starting” in that municipality, he said. Pradas has stressed that “only that allows us to react” and the Generalitat Valenciana reacted “immediately.” “calling for the activation of the EMU.
Along these lines, he asked “if the delegate says how concerned she was and what the EMU offered, why doesn’t she activate it?” since, she has reiterated, she was the one who had the information. “That information that she might have was not being transferred to us,” he said.
Pradas wanted to make it “clearly clear” that at the CECOPI at 5:00 p.m. “not even the Government delegate was present in person nor was the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, which evidently hampers intercommunication and the power to make decisions because absolutely nothing is verbally communicated to us about the Rambla del Poyo until after 7:00 p.m., when they speak directly about the Forata reservoir. According to Pradas, around 7:30 p.m., “it was verbalized that the dam could overflow and even break.”
According to his story, at 8:00 p.m. he received a call from the Secretary of State for Ecological Transition, dependent on the Ministry, who told him that he was in Colombia, finding out about the situation and that he could not assure him that he would not break the dam.
“What cannot be understood is that during CECOPI they only sent us emails. What’s more, the email they sent us warning that the Magro River and then the Poyo, which is where we have had the most serious consequences, is going to overflow, We receive it when that Poyo ravine is already overflowing. “It is something incomprehensible, given that we had the Hydrographic Confederation there, which is the one who has that information,” he defended. However, it must be remembered that the CHJ already replied to Carlos Mazón that they are not in charge of sending public alerts, they only inform of channel levels and rainfall data.
The defense of the Government
For her part, Pilar Bernabé explained in an interview on Cadena Ser that He called the Minister of Justice three times during the morningSalomé Pradas, to offer means to face the risk of DANA without it responding to that offer. The head of the Interior called the CECOPI at 5:00 p.m. After 7:00 p.m., the mayor of Paiporta, the town with the highest number of fatalities, alerted Bernabé that the municipality was flooding. And after 8:00 p.m., it was decided to activate the Es-Alert mechanism for the population.
“Everyone knows the responsibility they have and what they had on the 29th”stated the Government delegate in an appearance after the CECOPI.
The ‘president’ of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has also denied that he was at a birthday celebration meal that day: “I categorically deny it, it was a working lunch and that’s it”he said and assured, in brief statements to the media before participating in the meeting, that “he was personally in touch all the time with everything that was happening.”
Barnabas has refused to enter into the controversy. “The Government of Spain is absolutely focused on addressing the emergency and the post-emergency because it is an absolute necessity now. If now those responsible who have to be distributing and coordinating all the emergency work are dedicated to saying whether I did or did not do or left to do, we are failing the citizens“, he has settled.
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