The Deputy Director General for Emergency Situations, Jorge Suarez, confirmed to the investigating judge in the Dana administration that He suggested sending the electronic alert to residents around 5:15 p.m. Because of the photos they received of people on the rooftops at Otel and Requena, and that he proposed again at 5:38 p.m. The warning message was sent that afternoon to citizens at 8:11 p.m.
Suarez spoke this way on Thursday in his testimony as a witness before the judge of Cataroga, who is in charge of the criminal case of the disaster being investigated by the former Minister of Justice and Interior, Salome PradasAnd what was his second number, Emilio Argueso. The emergency manager arrived at the court around 9 a.m. and refused to comment to the media who were waiting for him at the door.
Suarez has been working in emergency situations for 12 years. In Dana’s day he was the top technician in the Emergency Coordination Center (CCE). He had been on vacation for a few days and had just returned to his job the same day. Thus he accompanied Pradas all day long He was present at Cecopi.
Specifically, Suarez, along with former chief inspector of the Valencia County Firefighters Union José Miguel Basset, are the two people from whom various political leaders derived the decision-making responsibility for Dana Day.
He suggested Es-Alert upon seeing pictures of Utiel and Requena
In his testimony, Suarez, with the help of some notes, A Chronology About what happened that afternoon Dana. He stated that Cecopi was formed at 5:00 p.m. – Even though the meeting did not start until 5:15 p.m. – Before that, they were in a room looking at the resources available to them.
That’s when They saw pictures of Utiel and RequenaWith people on roofs, they saw that neither UME resources nor forest firefighters could reach the area.
He recalls that what the witness “most worried about” was the people being trapped and potentially suffering from hypothermia. For this reason – Cecopi was not yet online – he suggested using Es-Alert, even though he did not use that name. He commented that they have the ability to send a notification to all mobile phones.
Once called into Cecopi, the people present and connected began to intervene. Among the speakers was the president of the Jocar Hydrographic Union (CHJ), Miguel Polo, who pointed to the Forata Dam, which began to leak water, and they did not rule out its transition to the third scenario, failure. He stressed, “This was a shock to everyone.”
At around 5:38 p.m., the head of the emergency service, Enmaculada Bayles, sent him via WhatsApp the name of the municipalities affected by the Vorata Dam, and another official sent him the emergency plan for the dam and there were towns with a height of six or seven meters in case of a break, he said.
It was at that moment when It was said that residents had to be notified He brought back to the table the possibility of using electronic alerts. It was 5:38 p.m., said the witness, who indicated he did not remember whether or not he used the word “Es-Alert” again.
Maintain Mazone logins to Secopy
On the other hand, the witness confirmed that it was decided to preserve the images recorded by the camera during the authorities’ entry into Sekopi on the same day as Dana because it was a “critical structure” and “It was understood that there was a social interest.”
He pointed out that this decision was not communicated to any judicial authority, but rather to the regional secretary. When later asked about a list of names of the authorities who went to Sikopi that day, the witness said that the video was used to submit the judicial application.
Regarding Mazzone’s arrival in Sekopi, the witness stated that he was “surprised” to find that he had arrived at 8:28 p.m. Because in his mind it was her again. He pointed out that “it appeared in the press that Mazzone arrived at 7:30 pm, and he also said this during his appearance at Courts.”