Spain is still recovering from severe flooding seen this autumn, which left mass destruction and fatalities in the area of Valencia. The floods, which happened almost a month ago, have claimed over 200 lives. It is said to be one of the worst natural disasters in Spain’s modern history. Now locals are protesting against the government’s handling of the emergency.
Claims that weather alerts were sent out late, have been levelled at the authorities. By the time the region’s government had sent out phone alerts to declare a civil emergency at 8pm, almost a year’s worth of rain had fallen in some places. Just before this, the event was hastily placed at a level two emergency, meaning the regional government was responsible for mitigating this, not Spain’s central government. It was not until the civil emergency alert was issued that they requested help from the Spanish military. However, due to the delayed reaction times of authorities, the damage had already been done.
By the time the region’s government had sent out phone alerts to declare a civil emergency at 8pm, almost a year’s worth of rain had fallen in some places.
Valencia’s president, Carlos Mazón, has blamed the Spanish central government for the disaster, but has more recently admitted his mistakes in the response. He was criticised for not issuing the emergency alerts sooner. In addition to this, for several hours on of the day of the disaster, Mazón was apparently unreachable, even enjoying for a long lunch with a journalist. This response, or rather lack of it, has sparked a series of ongoing protests by local people. Many protesters also feel that climate change has been ignored by those in power.
During a visit, the King and Queen of Spain were pelted with mud and eggs by protesters. Protests have also been calling for the resignation of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Carlos Mazón. Mazón has responded to this by saying he will not resign. Sánchez has spoken out against the protests, saying there will be a time for political reckoning, but for now the government must focus on clean-up efforts and making sure there is no further danger from ongoing storms. Whilst his government have recently passed a second relief package of just under four billion euros, locals are still saying that the government has failed them and they will take years to recover from this.
Scientists have been investigating into this disaster to find its cause, and to prevent anything like this happening again. Guillermo Vásquez, a research scientist has said the disaster is due to climate change and these events will become more common unless something is drastically changed.
This natural disaster has left deep tensions between the government and people throughout the whole of Spain, not only in the Valencia region. Whilst local people grieve and focus on the clean up mission, resentment of this lack of action from central and regional governments is likely to change Spanish politics in coming months.
