Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

Protesters confront police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9, 2024. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

19:13-9 November 2024 AD ـ 08 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

19:13-9 November 2024 AD ـ 08 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

Thousands of people demonstrated in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Saturday over regional authorities' handling of devastating floods that killed more than 220 people in one of Europe's worst natural disasters for decades.
In the latest demonstration over the floods, protesters filled the center of Valencia demanding the resignation of regional government leader Carlos Mazon and chanting "Killers!".
"Our hands are stained with mud, yours with blood," read one banner. Some demonstrators dumped muddy boots outside the council building in protests.
Residents in stricken areas accuse Mazon of issuing an alert too late, at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29, well after water was already pouring into many nearby towns and villages.
The Valencian leader has said he would have issued an earlier alarm earlier if authorities had been notified of the seriousness of the situation by an official water monitoring body. Mazon did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
"We want to show our indignation and anger over the poor management of this disaster which has affected so many people," said Anna Oliver, president of Accio Cultural del Pais Valenciano, one of about 30 groups that organized the protest.
Following days of storm warnings from the national weather service from Oct. 25 onward, some municipalities and local bodies raised the alarm much earlier than the regional government.
For example, Valencia University told its staff on Oct. 28 not to come to work. Several town halls suspended activities, shut down public facilities and told people to stay home.
Weather service AEMET raised its threat level for heavy rains in the area to a red alert at 7:36 a.m. on Oct. 29.
Nearly 80 people are still missing in what is the most deadly deluge in a single European country since floods in Portugal in 1967 killed around 500.

Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

08:35-13 November 2024 AD ـ 12 Jumada Al-Ula 1446 AH

Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

A villager on a wooden boat paddles on a flooded village caused by Typhoon Toraji in Tuguegarao city, Cagayan city, Philippines, 13 November 2024. (EPA)

The Philippines ordered evacuations Wednesday ahead of Typhoon Usagi's arrival, as the UN's disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after recent storms killed more than 150 people.

The national weather service said Usagi -- the archipelago's fifth major storm in three weeks -- would likely make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast tip of main island Luzon.

Provincial civil defense chief Rueli Rapsing said mayors had been ordered to evacuate residents in vulnerable areas, by force if necessary, as the 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour typhoon bears down on the country.

"Under (emergency protocols), all the mayors must implement the forced evacuation, especially for susceptible areas," he told AFP, adding as many as 40,000 people in the province lived in hazard-prone areas.

The area is set to be soaked in "intense to torrential" rain on Thursday and Friday, which can trigger floods and landslides with the ground still sodden from recent downpours, state weather forecaster Christopher Perez told reporters.

He urged residents of coastal areas to move inland due to the threat of storm surges and giant coastal waves up to three meters (nine feet) high, with shipping also facing the peril of 8–10-meter waves.

A sixth tropical storm, Man-yi, is expected to strengthen into a typhoon before hitting the center of the country as early as Friday, Perez said.

With more than 700,000 people forced out of their homes, the successive storms have taken a toll on the resources of both the government and local households, the UN said late Tuesday.

About 210,000 of those most affected by recent flooding need support for "critical lifesaving and protection efforts over the next three months", the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.

"Typhoons are overlapping. As soon as communities attempt to recover from the shock, the next tropical storm is already hitting them again," UN Philippines Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez said.

"In this context, the response capacity gets exhausted and budgets depleted."

The initiative "will help us mobilize the capacities and resources of the humanitarian community to better support government institutions at national, regional and local levels," Gonzalez added.

More than 28,000 people displaced by recent storms are still living in evacuation centers operated by local governments, the country's civil defense office said in its latest tally.

Government crews were still working to restore downed power and communication lines and clearing debris from roads.

About 20 big storms and typhoons hit the archipelago nation or its surrounding waters each year, killing scores of people and keeping millions in enduring poverty.

A recent study showed that storms in the Asia-Pacific region are increasingly forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change.

Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

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Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

Evacuations and Call for Aid as Typhoon Usagi Approaches Philippines

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