BY ED ANDERSON
Teruellian Tractors and Aragonese Agriculture show the best of Spain, its politicians show the worst
With all eyes on the USA, it would have been easy to miss the unfolding and continuing tragedy taking place in Spain and more specifically in Valencia from the DANA. Over 200 have died from the flash floods caused by the cold air heading over the warm seas of the Mediterranean, leading to the massive clouds and downpour Spain has seen along the coast. Utiel and Chiva had a year’s worth of rain fall in eight hours as part of the worst flooding and natural disaster Spain has seen in decades.
In the face of such grief and destruction it would be easy to despair and still two weeks after, El Mundo reported hundreds of families are still homeless in the towns and villages hardest hit. However, there have been extraordinary scenes of solidarity and compassion from within Spain.
Supermarkets shelves in Madrid were stripped as people went to buy and donate water and perishable goods to send to those affected, whilst thousands travelled to volunteer. Eventually however, it would be heavy machinery and not hands that were required to make a tangible difference.
All the while, the central Government led by PSOE (Spain´s Socialist Party) and Valencia´s Partido Popular led Regional government are now descending into recriminations about who was responsible for the lack of warning that people had. Indeed, each media outlet has taken their respective sides with more right wing media criticising the Government for not declaring it as a national emergency whilst Valencia staged a massive protest against PP Valencian Leader Carlos Mazón who is accused of lying about where he was when the crisis was happening. El Confidencial stated that after having claimed to be in his office at 5pm, Carlos Mazón was still having a lunch and wouldn´t actually show up to the crisis meeting until 7pm.
Currently the military are now on the scene but the need for heavy infrastructure was great and it was Spain´s much maligned farming community that answered the call. The Aragonese Farming Union (AEGA) have sent over 40 tractors, two excavators and a truck. This number doesn´t include the wave of farmers who brought their own which could easily push the numbers of heavy machinery into three digits, playing a vital role in helping people put their lives back together. The farmers have come from all over the Valencian community and for a group who have faced hugely increasing costs in fuel and seen prices undercut by food from non EU countries with lower security requirements, it´s a heroic effort from the farming community.
Once the wreckage is sifted through and those responsible for failing to warn the residents of the Valencian Community are (hopefully) held accountable, broader questions will arise. One of them will likely be whether depopulating the Spanish interior—by stripping it of opportunities and infrastructure—while millions concentrate in areas facing the increasing cost of extreme events, might be a grave mistake.
As the flooding spreads to Malaga, at least there is still enough of an agricultural industry left in Spain to come to Valencia´s aid.
Born and raised in Shropshire, Edward was peddled onto a worthless degree in Sociology and now currently resides in Madrid, having previously lived in Santander and Barcelona. He currently covers Spanish and European politics, having previously been on the ground in Barcelona for the Unilateral Declaration of Independence and subsequent election. His work can be found in a wide variety of places, from Red Pepper Magazine and Left Foot Forward to Comment Central and is a regular contributor to Bournbrook Magazine. He is currently studying for his Spanish qualification so he can do a web development course and go back to the north of Spain, where they have trees. He can be found on Twitter @HomelessEd3