B2.2 C) Floods in País Valencià: could all this have been avoided? by Jordi Soldevila

A fatal management

jordi15 — 2024-11-13 11:20:37 UTC

We think that the government could have sent the alert some hours earlier. If they had done that, people would have had more time to shelter. Once the situation was out of control, politicians shouldn’t have waited that long to send the army.

Catastrophe

2024-11-13 16:27:05 UTC

Early warning systems could have been improved to alert residents more effectively. Furthermore, authorities should have been more empathetic with the devastating situation.

With these proactive measures, the damage would have been minimized.

Politicians

molinamaica8041 — 2024-11-13 17:58:05 UTC

The main problem is that politicians do not have scientific knowledge and when they have to decide important things they think about the opinions or criticisms they will have and not about whether it is the right thing to do. This is not the first case, what happened during the COVID pandemic? They could have closed the country at the same time as other countries did. Instead, they said it was like the flu. It is obvious that in Valencia they should have decided earlier. In fact, it would have been better if the final decision had not been made by politicians. I think that qualified professionals should be allowed to make decisions without depending on politicians.

2024-11-13 19:51:07 UTC

Surely the magnitud of the consecuences would have been less if the politicians shouldn't have stopped the project of 2007 for improving canal works.

Furthermore, the management from the begining has been a terrible acumulation of mistakes which show us the null capacity of our goberments...

If the emergency alarm should have been sent with time enought to deslodge, many lives would have been saved.

As if this not had been enought, the militar and the humanitarian help and others state corporations should have acted before instead of waiting an order from their superiors....

I don't know what had happened with all this people if the thousands of voluntaries wouldn't have moved responding to desesperate necessity of help from valencians people.

Ineptitude and lack of humanity

2024-11-13 20:37:55 UTC

Firstly Mazon's government shouldn't have finished with the Coordination Center of Emergencies in País Valencià. Mazon started his legislature with Vox and most of them are Climate Change denialists. It wasn't a priority for them. Would have been better if the authorities were more interested in the alerts, that AEMET and Meteo in Àpunt TV, were giving previously. They should have alerted the population immediately, like the harbor and university did. It could have been less tragic. One member of the governement told that she didn't know the alarms system, that shows the level of preparation of them.

People shouldn't have been working since the afternoon, but business is business and politicians have not lived up to the catastrophe.

The life of the poor people isn.t important for the government

pieranuria3697 — 2024-11-14 09:11:21 UTC

In my opinion,this catastrophe would not have happened.but it.s an area who live poor people ,where they live in a flooding area,

Probably the government would have been more alert,however the life of the poor people isn.t important for government.They shouldn.t have built in flooding area....

I think that politicians aren.t the best professionals ,most of them aren´t experts in the department they occupy.When they try the potiticians for every department they should have tried qualified professionals.They could have made better decisions.

On the other hand , I totally agree about now the citizens have demand responsabilities

ANA M. GALLEGO

2024-11-14 14:35:00 UTC

If I had me, I wouldn't stay without alarms until eight in the evening. The autonoumus community should hace been more interested in the emergency, and could have been autorizhed UME aids sonner.

THE INCREDIBLE FORCE OF WATER AND THE LACK OF CAPACITY OF POLITICIANS

2024-11-15 19:49:52 UTC

In my opinion there are several factors that made that tragedy had happen.

First of all, the main places where flodding have been more important are towns that were builded in flooding areas. The government should’nt have been allowed to construct buildings next to these areas.

For example, in 1957 were a big flooding in Valencia city that had caused lot of deaths and material damage. The important measure they had decided was to change the course of the river Turia, that’s why the city center of Valencia haven’t been injured with DANA.

Another fact was that the population couldn’t have imagined the dimensions of DANA withouth warnings. Government had advices from AEMET from the morning but they didn’t send warnings until 8pm when the people were in the middle of devastation. The government should have sent these sms earlier.

Furthermore, if it had been me I wouldn’t have waited so long to send the army to help the people, because while the politicians were arguing about responsibilities, the population were the first to act and help.

Politicians over scientists

2024-11-17 01:36:01 UTC

I think if the government had listened to Aemet alerts the consequences of the tragedy wouldn't have been as grave as it was. It’s obvious that if they had done, they would have been prepared to send the mobile alert before they did.

When our government's incompetence costs lives

2024-11-17 10:50:32 UTC

Day by day we have seen how goverments don't care about our reals lives. They only want votes without doing right politics that improve infrastructures that helps our daily lives.

Scientists has been talking a lot about "flodable areas" , the politicins shoudn't have given permissions to built in these areas many years ago. If they did it, the would have considered being prepared and have a studied emergency plan.

Now we are soo angry about the main representative Mazon, but we are mistaked. He is only a piece of series of successive errors in the emergency management that never wouldn't have succed.

2024-11-17 11:30:17 UTC

Capitalism

I have a clear understanding of this catastrophe, and that understanding also applies to wars and other tragedies that occurs today.

The main cause is capitalism. Politicians should have served the people, but instead, they must have prioritized the interests of large corporations. In Valencia, they shouldn't have changed laws to allow the construction of houses in flood zones. They also shouldn't have cut the budget to emergency causes, and they should have alerted people to take care of the effects of the storm, but they only careed about their own interests and serving the rich!

A bad organization

bareacarla8915 — 2024-11-17 17:36:17 UTC

I think that what happened in Valencia was a catastrophe. Firstly, the government's actions were not correct. The government could have warned the population earlier. They should have had an action plan for this type of natural disaster. In addition, they could have sent help earlier to the affected villages. In my opinion, I think that we can all learn something from what has happened.

Lack of interest

2024-11-17 17:42:34 UTC

The goverment should have made the emergency services more available, and could have given them more resources, so thet they could do their job. They should have made sure, that the emergency alarm was working, and ready if there was a emergency.

Experts were right

2024-11-17 18:07:27 UTC

More than 200 people died in País Valencià because the terrible flooding. Mazón's government didn't active the alerts and the coordination was awful. Some days later, the army should have been able to run quickly.

When things are not done well

2024-11-17 18:27:02 UTC

From my point of view, the consequences of what happened in Valencia should have been less (in terms of deaths especially), because there are supposedly people in charge of monitoring the weather and alerting the authorities to raise the alarm. The problem was that the authorities should have activated the alarm earlier and should have sent aid resources earlier.

Lack of experience

jimenezalbert7762 — 2024-11-17 19:41:46 UTC

First of all, this country is not ready for these kind of events, but the government should have handled this situation better. They could have sent the alert earlier but they didn't imagine what was coming. If we had had experience this terrible event would have been avoided

Catastrophe

2024-11-18 11:29:20 UTC

This question has many answers. The number of victims, as well as the material damage caused by these floods, could have been significantly reduced if the State had not permitted the construction of houses on flood-prone land, if the Government of Valencia had acted more promptly, if the alarm had been communicated in advance, and if the emergency coordination had been managed by experts. I firmly believe that this catastrophe would not have been as devastating as it turned out to be