Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by Carlos Soledad from El Salto Diario on November 4, 2024.
Catastrophic flash floods have killed at least 217 people in Spain … The phenomenon is known locally as DANA, a Spanish acronym for high-altitude isolated depression, and unlike common storms or squalls, it can form independently of polar or subtropical jet streams. The DANA in November was one of the three most intense such storms recorded this century in the Valencia region, said Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for the national weather agency Aemet.
National and international solidarity initiatives have been organized in response to the serious consequences of the DANA after it passed through l’Horta Sud in Valencia. From Massachusetts, United States, a group of visiting professors of Valencian origin have organized themselves to promote an economic campaign to support the affected people.
“You only have to deposit abroad to the account of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) (1) union, indicating the Swift number for international transfers, BCOEESMM159, along with the account number ES7831590018112755192826,” says Iris López, visiting professor in Amherst, who also comments that “you can deposit from any country in the world, from Europe, Latin America, as well as the United States”.
Inma Sellés is the coordinator of the solidarity fund in Valencia. “We are an anarcho-syndicalist union, made up of working people, independent of companies and political parties.” Sélles also points out that many people from the affected areas “are members of the union, l’Horta Sud is a working-class area on the outskirts, traditionally more impoverished.” Regarding the management of the resistance fund, she explains, “It will be used for needs that we know first-hand since our members are linked to the neighborhood movement of the most affected towns.”
The union member indicates that when there is telephone and Internet coverage in the area, “we coordinate with the neighborhood associations to be more efficient,” and points out that the city manages the information on the most urgent needs “food, medicines, and we see how to get it to them. Today, when we went to Alcosa Park, what would take half an hour, took us 7 hours,” and adds that so that people understand the seriousness “it is a Dantesque situation, worse than what can be seen in the images on television, there is only one lane to access, all the rest are cars piled up, belongings, wood, desperate people, asking for soap, fundamental things. That is why we ask for money, not products, the need is changing every time, you arrive at a place and they have a lot of something, but they lack something else.”
Sellés says that the problem will be “long-term, the products are perishable and this will last a very long time” and points out that her organization intends “when people start to forget about the situation, as usually happens, to continue providing support”. Finally, the activist points out that in her opinion the management of the Valencian government “has been ‘criminal’, first for not warning in time of the emergency and its magnitude when they were aware of it, then for the disastrous management of the catastrophe and the demonstrated ineffectiveness on their part.”
From the Valencian Country, other social initiatives have been organized to bring economic resources to the affected areas. This is the case of the Koordinadora de Kolectivos del Parke Alcosa (2), very well established in the area of Alfafar, Benetússer, and Massanassa in l’Horta Sud, one of the most affected by the DANA, who have made available the account number ES94 3159 0020 2728 45198924, with Swift code BCOEESMM159.
From the anti-racist migrant movement, the Intercultural Association of Home and Care Professionals, as well the Resistencia Migrante Dissident collective, with a wide presence in the city of Valencia, have launched a resistance box with the account number ES29 3159 0022 1427 0586 3526 and the Swift code BCOEESMM159 for international transfers, the concept “Dana Donation”, to allocate support to migrants in an irregular administrative situation who have been affected.
Also, the Fundació Horta Sud, which “is with the people affected by the DANA”, is a community foundation with 52 years of experience and work in the area. “In the last 30 years, we have channeled resources and aid that have made possible the improvement of the region and the lives of the people who live there,” it says on its website (2). ES43 3159 0013 9630 4769 6921, BIC/SWIFT BCOEESMM159.
Finally, from the anti-racist migrant movement, the Intercultural Association of Home and Care Professionals, as well as the Resistencia Migrante Dissident collective, with a wide presence in the city of Valencia, has launched a resistance box with the account number ES29 3159 0022 1427 0586 3526 and the Swift code BCOEESMM159 for international transfers, concept “Donation DANA”, to allocate support for migrants in an irregular administrative situation who have been affected.
*Please send proof of payment to carlossoledad@gmail.com so we can check with the local associations that the money has arrived.
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