PaiportaHelp instead of oblivion. Support and affection instead of helplessness. Brooms and shovels to clean instead of the reeds that the Poio ravine transported and that many residents used to escape the devastation that ravaged their homes. The municipalities of the Valencian region of L’Horta Sud received this Friday a historic show of solidarity. Thousands of people have crossed the Túria river to show that the inhabitants of the localities affected by the worst storm of the century in the State are not alone. They have told them without words, but with deeds. They know that it will take months, maybe years, to recover, and that the memory of the victims will be a wound that will never completely heal, but that the catastrophe has been collective and that only mutual aid will allow them to overcome the
Along the roadside, in the middle of the road, along the edges of the cultivated fields… On foot, by motorbike, bicycle, scooter or by car. Neighbors from Valencia such as Eugenia, Antonio, Xavi, Gonzalo, Carolina, Isabel or Carlos or from towns as far away as Castalla – 117 kilometers away – such as Ramón or José. Organized through WhatsApp or Telegram groups or through Facebook or Instagram pages. People who speak Valencian, Spanish or Arabic. Nurses, students or telecommunications engineers. It’s worth it. A mess as diverse as current Valencian society is, which has had no doubts about where they wanted to be.
Unlike those who left their homes just 72 hours ago, those who make the reverse journey today have their hands full. They carry brooms, shovels, buckets and brooms. They are loaded with rucksacks filled with such basic things as rice, oil, sugar or water. Although the images of the thousands of volunteers have resonated all day, strangely none of them have their mobile phones in their hands or take pictures. They travel the road accompanied by the soundtrack of the crowds: the shouting. A din multiplied by police sirens, ambulances, emergency services and military helicopters. An uproar radically opposed to the silence that reigned the day after the catastrophe, when the ARA traveled these same 3.6 kilometers. An astonishment that has now transformed into determination, into movement. In action like Eugenia’s. “I haven’t heard from a friend since Tuesday. He is 54 years old and lives in Alfafar. I know they say you can’t go there, but I can’t stay at home anymore, I’m going to look for her”, he summarizes.
Nor has Ramón thought much about it, who is standing in a traffic jam next to his yellow Suzuki Jimmy all-terrain vehicle. He is accompanied by his brother José. Both have been part of an expedition of eight 4x4s and two trucks. They come from the region of Alcoià, more than a hundred kilometers away. “We saw that help was needed and since I have equipment to tow vehicles, we came. We brought food for animals that we gave in Torrent and water and clothes that we left in Paiporta. Now we’ve been told that Benetússer needs people and that’s where we’re going,” he explains.
We arrive at the gates of Paiporta and note that, although very little by little, the situation is improving. There are still hundreds of overturned cars on the curbs, but fewer than Wednesday. There is also less mud and standing water. While the emergency services are dedicated to searching for the victims, the cleanup falls on the citizens. Above all, that of the sidewalks and secondary streets. We check it by approaching a group of ten people. They’ve been scraping dirt off a garage door all day. Only the vehicles that block the entrance remain. Among them is Isabel, who has not hesitated to take advantage of the most tragic All Saints festival in the recent history of the Valencian Country to lend a helping hand to her friends Pedro and Javi, neighbors of the building. she is angry “Today, three days later, is when the army arrives. People haven’t gotten the help they deserve. It has been disastrous management”, he complains.
The self-management of the catastrophe
Fifty meters further on, we observe how some neighbors organize themselves to tow cars from a garage. It is a dangerous job, but in the catastrophe self-management rules. The ones who don’t have time to contemplate the scene are Gonzalo and Xavi, two volunteers who fill baskets with mud. Their clothes, completely dirty, show that they have worked hard. They have come to help Israel, a professor at the University of Valencia who celebrates that the institution canceled classes on the day of the storm. “At 12 noon they also sent the administrative staff home. I picked up my son from school and we locked ourselves in the flat”, he remembers.
Esther, a neighbor of the same building, is also upset. He is clear about the management of the Generalitat: “We are abandoned”, he points out. And to give an example, he shows us the water bottles that his friends have brought on foot and thanks to which they can drink or wash. His six-year-old daughter and two friends who are playing on the landing interrupt the conversation. How are they doing? “We invent games. We try not to make them aware of what has happened”, explains the woman. It’s natural, because his brother-in-law’s vehicle was swept away by the water with him inside. The situation was so desperate that he said goodbye to the mobile phone forever.
We return to Valencia embedded in a crowded caravan. A crowd of people armed with brooms and shovels. Some don’t say goodbye, but “see you tomorrow”, a sign that solidarity continues.
