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Congress Summons Bernabé and Emergencies Director Over DANA Storm

The investigation committee for the 2024 catastrophe has summoned the Government delegate and former Emergencies director for June 22.

Generic image of an official building with Mediterranean architecture under sunlight.
IA

Generic image of an official building with Mediterranean architecture under sunlight.

The congressional committee investigating the 2024 DANA storm catastrophe in Valencia has summoned for next June 22 the Government's delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and the then Director General of Emergencies of the Generalitat, Alberto Martín Moratilla.

The session will begin with the appearance of the central government's top representative in the region, Pilar Bernabé, who already testified before the judge investigating the criminal case for the flood. Bernabé stated in court that at 7 PM she warned the Cecopi about the overflow of the Poyo ravine, learning about it from the mayor of Paiporta, who alerted her that people were drowning.
At that moment, the delegate asked the then Minister of Justice and Interior, Salomé Pradas, to send the alert to the population (Es-Alert) and extend it to the entire province after the Poyo ravine overflowed. The minister replied that this situation was occurring elsewhere. When the alert message was sent at 8:11 PM, the situation at Cecopi was already "chaos".
Bernabé also clarified that she had called Pradas at 12:23 PM to offer her the UME (Military Emergencies Unit), but it was not requested until after 2:54 PM. In a previous call, at 2:33 PM, the delegate told the former minister: "Please request the UME".
Later, in the afternoon session on the 22nd, it will be the turn for the commissioners to question Alberto Martín Moratilla. Last February, he recalled before the judge that, early on the day of the events, Pradas asked him for information on how the day was expected to unfold and inquired about a "delicate" location to visit "on the ground," suggesting Carlet. Then, around 2 PM, upon hearing about the floods in Utiel, he advised activating the Military Emergencies Unit (UME).
According to his account, Pradas proposed evacuating the villages potentially affected by the rupture of the Forata dam, which was alerted around 6 PM, but José Miguel Basset --former head of the Firefighters Consortium-- rejected the idea. "It was proposed to notify all the mayors of the affected municipalities. The aim was to avoid panic and a stampede," he said.
Regarding the Es-Alert, he explained that it was not discussed until 7 PM, that Pradas gave the final text her approval, and that both she and Carlos Mazón, when he joined after Cecopi, "only said OK to what the technicians said".

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