Six days after the worst DANA in decades destroyed fifteen towns in the province of Valencia, The national debate begins to focus on settling political responsibilities of the Generalitat Valenciana and the central Government in the management of a tragedy that still has many open fronts.
The tension and indignation this past Sunday of dozens of people in Paiporta during the visit of the kings splashes throughout Carlos Mazónpresident of the Generalitat Valenciana, but also Pedro SanchezPresident of the Government. The question floating in the air is who has or should assume management of DANA.
Mazón and Sánchez accompanied the kings on Sunday on their visit to Paiportaconsidered ground zero of the tragedy, and the two were able to see first-hand the rage and anger of a good part of the affected people. Sánchez even suffered an attack.
The indignation of the DANA victims responds to two reasons: on the one hand, there is the indisputable fact that the alert launched by the Generalitat Valenciana was late and poorly, since it was launched when the floods had already started; On the other hand, among those affected there is a feeling of helplessness and abandonment due to the slowness with which aid and public resources are arrivingaccording to what they themselves denounce.
Political tension has begun crack the image of unity that Mazón and Sánchez have been transferring these days. This Monday, in an interview on the Cope network, the Valencian president slipped the idea that sending the alerts before DANA arrived was the responsibility of the Government of Pedro Sánchez. In that same interview, Mazón also wanted to make it clear that he requested all the help from day onesuggesting that the delay of the emergency services in acting in the affected areas cannot be attributed to the Generalitat Valenciana either.
Given this scenario, several questions arise: Who should send the alerts? Who has the powers to coordinate emergency services in a disaster of this type? Should Pedro Sánchez’s Government have declared a state of alarm? Why is the alert level declared by Mazón 2 and not 3? Has the State failed to deliver promptly?
Who should send the alerts?
This issue will most certainly be the subject of intense debate in the coming months. The DANA victims are convinced that the enormous tragedy in Valencia could have been mitigated if the population had been notified in time. The Generalitat Valenciana launched the alert at 8:12 p.m., when the catastrophe had already broken out.. However, the State Meteorological Agency had already decreed a red alert for the province of Valencia at 7:31 a.m. on that Tuesday, October 29, about 11 hours before the waters overflowed.
Mazón relies on the fact that it was Júcar Hydrographic Confederationwhich depends on the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which deactivated the flood danger alert three times last Tuesday between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on the afternoon of October 29, and that was not “until a quarter to seven” ― that is, an hour and a half before the Generalitat sent the message to citizens’ cell phones – when the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation conveys the seriousness of the situation.
The Valencian president insists that on October 29 he asked for “all possible help” at 3:21 p.m., before what he called “meteorological revolution” that occurred at night in the province of Valencia.
Beyond the fact that Mazón does not explain why – in the best of cases and always according to his version – the Generalitat took an hour and a half to send the alerts to the population, the truth is that according to the Law of the National Civil Protection System , the one in charge of sending the alerts is the autonomous community.
What’s more, this very Monday The Ministry of Ecological Transition has denied Mazón with a very forceful note in which it states: “The hydrographic confederations do not launch alerts, the competent body to launch hydrological alerts are the regional emergency services.”
Therefore, The one who should launch the alert was the Generalitat Valenciana.
Who has the powers to coordinate emergency services in a disaster of this type?
The Constitution obliges the State, that is, all public administrations, to “provide security” to citizens in the event of catastrophes of this type, but does not specify how responsibilities should be attributed between the different levels of administrations.
However, The Constitutional Court already indicated in 1985 that the autonomous communities should be recognized as having jurisdiction over the issue.. And this is true both in matters of civil protection, especially for the preparation of the corresponding risk and calamity prevention plans, and for the direction of its own emergency services.
Along these lines, both the Law of the National Civil Protection System like the Civil Protection and Emergency Management Law of the Generalitat ValencianaNovember 2010, They establish that it is the autonomous community that is competent in this matter.
In short, the powers regarding civil protection and emergency prevention regarding catastrophes that occur within a certain autonomous community correspond to the Government of that autonomy, both in alerts and prevention, as well as in immediate reaction, according to the plans that have been established. about it.
Why has the Generalitat Valenciana declared emergency level 2 and not 3?
In the face of a catastrophe, There are three levels of emergency, 1, 2 and 3. At the first two levels, it is the affected autonomous community that is in charge of management.: in 1, it does so with its own resources and in 2 it also has the resources provided by the central government, such as the Army.
The Government of Carlos Mazón has activated emergency level 2 as a response to DANA. This is not, however, the maximum level of response. There is a third level, but activating it would imply ceding the direction and management of emergency services to the Ministry of the Interior.. According to the Civil Protection System Law, this level 3 is reserved for large emergencies.
The Civil Protection and Emergency Management Law of the Generalitat also establishes that by not requesting the central government to activate article 116 of the Constitution – related to the state of alarm -, “the president of the Generalitat may declare the emergency situation “catastrophic” and to hand over control to the central government when the intensity of the damage is considered to be “particularly serious”.
Mazón has not activated the level, Your Government continues to direct all emergency services and coordinate all resources made available to you by the Government of Pedro Sánchez, including the Military Emergency Unit and the rest of the members of the Army.
Should Pedro Sánchez’s Government have declared a state of alarm?
Law of the Civil Protection System and the Constitution allow the Government to take the reins in cases like the DANA of Valencia. At any time you can go to emergency level 3. Fernando Grande-Marlaska, minister of the interior, could declare an emergency of national interest, and from that moment his department would assume management of the emergency. In this regard, Alberto Nuñéz Feijóo requested this Monday the declaration of a “national emergency.”
another way so that If the Government assumed control it would be through a state of alarm. The Constitution and Organic Law 4/1981, on states of alarm, exception and siege, allow the Government to decree a state of alarm throughout the country, or in a part of it.
If Pedro Sánchez’s Executive has not done so, it is because he didn’t want to. From Moncloa they have not stopped repeating these days that their commitment is to cooperation between public administrations and that They prefer to manage from consensus rather than from division.
Has the State failed to deliver aid promptly?
This is the other great controversy that surrounds the management of the catastrophe. The discomfort of those affected is more than evident. They accuse both Mazón and Sánchez of not having quickly provided the necessary material and human resources to confront the ravages of DANA.
Mazón also changed his version this Monday of the facts in the interview with COPE. He assures that he asked for “all the help possible” before the water devastated everything. He added that once this help is requested, it is the military operational commanders who detect whether it is necessary for more detachments to come and that it does not depend on the politicians to bring more resources nor is there a need for “any political slogan” for this, since they act ex officio. .
However, This version of events compares poorly with his requests for help in the previous days. He asked for it in dribs and drabs. On Friday, November 1, in the presence of the minister he stated: “As we need, we have all the channels open, today 500 [efectivos] more, tomorrow 500 more, and all options open. If at any time it is updated based on a serious and confirmed x-ray, they are requested and are coming [más efectivos]”.
Mazón has been asking the state for tailored help based on the needs that arose that day.
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