Spain has experienced its worst tragedy since the 2004 terror attack at Madrid’s Atocha train station and the 2017 Barcelona attacks. Heavy rainfall triggered flooding in Valencia, leaving more than 200 people dead, more than 300 missing, and 300,000 without access to drinking water. Many lost their homes, property, and almost everything. The region’s infrastructure has been completely destroyed: roads, bridges, railways, transport links.
The worst is the fact that the Government seemingly does not know how to solve this crisis. A national emergency has not been called and the Valencian regional government had to solve the crisis on its own. Despite the EU providing Spain with its satellite Copernicus systems, there are simply not enough people to conduct search and rescue operations. It is all done by hands of volunteers, especially of far-right groups like the youth of the VOX Party and the Revuelta Movement.
The people of Valencia were not properly warned before the disaster. Meteorologists issued warning only after the heavy rainfall had started, which was already too late. Only three days since the disaster has the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez decided to deploy additional 10,000 military personnel to help the 5,000 already deployed by Valencia’s regional government. This is Spain’s largest peacetime deployment of troops In history, but Sanchez has indicated that the government is aware that the response is not enough. Only 67 of the 200+ victims have been identified, the others are still not.
Spanish Royal Family – King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia – have visited a rural town of Paiporta and faced angry protesters who shouted “murderers” and “shame”, saying that nothing has been done to avoid the tragedy. The car, which carried the royals along with Pedro Sanchez and Carlos Mazon was attacked by locals. Spain looks like a third world country these days, with the government practically helpless and hopeless, asking the European Union to provide at least some assistance.
It is significant as Spain’s government has already been under some stress lately and this can prove to be a black swan that finally makes Pedro Sanchez’s rule come to an end. Earlier last year he called early elections to secure his grip on power and his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) could not win an absolute majority, deciding to make a deal with Catalan separatists to form a ruling coalition. This was heavily criticized by Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP) and far-right VOX Party. These two are now the most vocal critics of Sanchez’s response to the Valencia tragedy.
Most Spanish political elites attribute the destruction to climate change, saying that natural disasters have become fiercer and more unpredictable with the changing dynamics and weather patterns. This does not seem like a credible explanation to anti-establishment groups, which point the finger to the failing construction policies under Pedro Sanchez’s government.
All in all, Valencia floods can prove to be similar to the 2004 Madrid terror attack, which became the force that defeated Jose Maria Aznar’s government and created a new social movement, which later turned out to be the far-left group Podemos. However, this time it’s a right-wing patriotic movement that will arise. Today, they are volunteers who post videos online on their activities, tomorrow they will be one of the leading political forces in the country. And the current government will fall into oblivion, as the one that could not prevent a deadly tragedy.
Comments