anger and trauma always haunt the inhabitants

Easter Sunday, epilogue of Holy Week in Spain. 6 km south of Valencia, in the small town of Benetuser, the women and the draped men in the colors of their brotherhoods rush to the sound of drums. “Jesus left and he returned,” claims Patricia Tamurejo, a 25 -year -old French professor, dressed in a purple dress and a yellow cape. Several of his colleagues wear a crossed black ribbon displaying an image of Jesus in tribute to one of their own, who died in the mudslide who devastated the city on October 29, 2024. “We too, it is as if we were gone and we returned,” continues the young woman.

Six months after the disaster, Benetuser has resurrected, but the wound remains. The stigmata are there. Each of the cities in the suburbs of Valence which were struck by the wave bears its own. A brown line testifies to the height of the waves on the walls (1 to 2 meters depending on the location), buildings are pierced, out -of -service elevators, deserted dwellings. Schools, colleges and high schools await abandonment. In Paiforta, epicenter of the drama, a huge balafre digs the bed of a dry canal. Everywhere, the same red dust is embedded on cars and in the lungs, discreet vestige of the mud torrent which swept on the streets. There Dana – Spanish acronym designating this “cold drop” which caused torrential rains – cost the lives of at least 224 people.

Glows of hope

The survivors continue to live with the trauma of this endless evening. Placed on a tree, a search poster. The dog on the photo is called Arus. He was 3 years old. “It’s my dog,” says a man in the distance before leaving his jacket of the animal photos. “I lost it during the Dana . We walked when the mud arrived. We took refuge on a slide. A car hit us and we fell each on the one hand, ”says José William Rodriguez Torres, 67. “I keep the hope that someone saw and saved him. At the end of a leash, a 4 month old puppy is agitated, a compliant copy of the lost companion. His name is Bru, “because from A (arus) to B (Brus)”.

Beginning of the first renovation works

Material losses weigh little in front of those of the heart. Pedro Diaz and his wife saw the mud surge on the ground floor of their house and swallow up the friend’s room and the sheets embroidered by the grandmother for their son. They were their most precious memories. Insurance money fell and the first renovation works started.

“But, at 72, it does not stay long to rebuild his life,” laments the retiree. Others, like his neighbor Jorge Calor, his wife and two children, lost everything. They are around forty of the neighborhood to have contributed to pay the demolition of their house, too damaged by the waves. “I could sit on the field and start crying but it would be useless”, philosopher the father, in the midst of his neighbors gathered for a barbecue. He hopes to buy his house once rebuilt. In the meantime, he and his family are accommodated in a friend’s apartment.

Failing

There Dana has raised a huge momentum of generosity. The NGOs and associations (Red Cross, Caritas, World Central Kitchen, etc.) provided food aid while thousands of Valence volunteers and abroad lent their arms to clear streets and houses. “Fortunately they were there. THANKS ! And cursed be the administration that has been damaged from us, ”asserts Pedro Diaz. The feeling of abandonment is general. The help of the public authorities only came after several weeks, hampered by political disputes between the national government and the regional authorities.

“Neither forgetting nor sorry”

Where were these authorities on October 29? The same morning, the weather services asked the inhabitants not to go out. The first regional emergency committee only met 5 p.m. Carlos Mazon, president of the Valencian community, came only at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m., depending on the versions, selected at the restaurant by a journalist. The alert only fell much later. “8:11 p.m. Nor forgetting, nor sorry,” we always read on the walls.

Demonstrations are organized every 29 of the month to claim the resignation of Carlos Mazon while a judicial investigation is underway, which will take years. “Everyone takes the ball. We hoped that policies would agree to work elbow and help us. Instead, it is the constant fight, ”regrets Christian Lesaec, president of the first association of victims. A tag sums up this feeling of anger: “The people save the people. »»