The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced the dispatch of 10,000 troops to the Valencian Community to reinforce the search and rescue work after the devastating passage of the DANA. From the Palace of La Moncloa, Sanchez has informed that 5,000 military and 5,000 agents of the National Police and Civil Guard will join the rescue and aid tasks for the victims. To date, the DANA has left 207 dead, 202 of them in the Valencian Community. Sánchez highlighted the rapid response of the Executive to the request of the regional president to reinforce the resources in the area. This Saturday, 4,000 military personnel have already arrived in the region, and another 1,000 are expected to arrive at the beginning of Sunday, completing the requested contingent.
PP criticizes the lack of national emergency declaration
On the other hand, the Partido Popular (PP) has issued a statement urging the Government to declare the DANA as an emergency of national interest, criticizing the fact that this measure was not taken on the night of Tuesday, October 29, when the disaster was beginning to show its impact. According to the PP, the magnitude of this catastrophe requires a national coordination that, in its opinion, has not been fulfilled in this case. The PP has recalled other events of great impact, such as the volcanic eruption of La Palma in 2021 and the Filomena squall, in which the Government assumed a proactive role in directing operations. In addition, it points out that the Civil Protection Law allows the declaration of national interest in situations that affect several autonomous communities and require supra-autonomous resources.
UME and Ministry of the Interior resources and coordination
In its statement, the PP stresses that the Government has specialized resources, such as the Military Emergency Unit (UME), whose performance and command capacity would be necessary in this context. The political formation considers that the coordination in this emergency, with a significant amount of intervening means, is complex for the regional services and that the Minister of the Interior should have assumed the direction of the operations from the beginning. The party also argues that, despite the fact that the national emergency has not yet been declared, “there is no time limit for doing so,” and requests that it be implemented now to coordinate recovery resources and help the most affected municipalities. The Civil Protection Law establishes that the Government can act on any area of the territory in cases of national emergencies that require a coordinated effort of several public administrations.
