The former Minister of the Interior and Justice of the Generalitat Valenciana Salomé Pradas, responsible for emergencies during DANA 2024, admitted this Monday before the Commission of Inquiry of Congress on 29O that “mistakes” were made before and during that day, among them, the absence of regulations on the sending of the Es-Alert, and indicated that it was not the regional government that requested the withdrawal of the forest firefighters who were that day in the Barranco del Poyo, which overflowed in the afternoon and caused the disaster.
Pradas had announced that it would not answer the questions of the members of the Commission of Inquiry given its status as investigator in the criminal case opened at the Catarroja court on the management of the disaster, but ultimately agreed to answer some of them to clarify the statements of some of his interlocutors.
Thus, in response to the deputy of Sumar Nahuel González, he recognized that there were “failures” before the day in question and also on that day, which resulted in 230 deaths in the province of Valencia. Furthermore, responding to the Comprom deputy, Alberto Ibáñez, she explained that before the start of the Cecopi meeting, the information she had was that “forest firefighters were deployed” in the Barranco del Poyo.
When asked who removed them, the former adviser urged MPs to keep asking that question “to see if anyone answers it”. “Of course it’s not Minister Pradas.” “Was it someone from your government?” Ibáñez asked, to which she replied: “As far as I know, no.” He then indicated that “whoever has to answer it” will have to answer this question and that the matter is the subject of an “investigation” and “it will be seen there”.
“The truth will finally be known”
“I want to collaborate until the end and I know that the truth will finally be known,” the speaker said at another point in her speech, during which she emphasized that she was still “at the foot of the canyon” in her institutional responsibilities. “I did my institutional work from the first minute of the 29th and until the last minute when I was fired,” he said.
Concerning the sending of the alert message to the population – the Es-Alert, which was sent at 8:11 p.m. on October 29 -, Pradas stressed that the Special Flood Plan of the Valencian Community “does not mention at any time” Es-Alert: “It does not mention what it is, nor how it is used, nor who should determine its contents, nor who is responsible for its shipment, nor which authorities should validate it, nor in relation to what forecasts or observed values it should be sent nor to which areas.”
In this context, he urged the commission to ask the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, to approve the “technical regulations” on Es-Alert.
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