Long path back to normality for Valencia residents

DW (English)

More than 200 people were killed when flooding devastated parts of eastern and southern Spain in October. The coastal region of Valencia was hit the hardest. Residents there have been trying to put their lives back together, but businesses are still struggling, and many people are still angry at the local government.

Transcript

00:00The devastation of the deadly floods left behind is still immense.

00:03Overnight the catastrophe of the 29th of October

00:07changed the lives of thousands in the province of Valencia.

00:10Normality seems far away and starting over

00:13is a challenge. This metal workshop in the town of Masanasa

00:18is still barely accessible from the outside. Together with volunteers

00:22Joaquin Raga has gotten rid of most of the mud that covered everything.

00:27Approximately two and a half meters.

00:30All of his tools and machines are now useless,

00:33destroyed by sand and rust. He estimates the damage at 60,000 euros

00:38and has now gotten 10,000 euros of financial aid

00:41from the national government. But he won't be able to open for another month

00:46or two.

00:46He's afraid he'll lose his customers.

00:52We get called a lot for repairs, but right now I cannot fix anything.

00:56We are repairing our own things. How are we going to repair for others?

01:00It's impossible right now. Let's see if they can wait a bit.

01:03That would be good. If not, it can't happen.

01:06Things look slightly different a few minutes drive away

01:11in Sedabí. Thanks to a donation from a Spanish supermarket manager

01:16this butcher just reopened. A relief after long weeks

01:21in crisis mode.

01:25It means a lot to me, seeing people come back in and people not crying

01:29because when the shop was closed they came to hug us and cry.

01:32It was all crying. And now we have a bond with people

01:36that we didn't have before.

01:39Only very few shops are already open though.

01:43Many people still rely on donations,

01:46like here at this church where they get the essentials that they cannot find

01:50locally.

01:51The road to recovery is tough, and for some, unimaginable.

01:55Many here think that most of the deaths could have been avoided

01:59had the regional government alerted people on time.

02:03Mery García's father died in the flood.

02:06It took more than 10 days to find his body.

02:09Volunteers dug him out of the mud, and she feels left alone to deal with the trauma.

02:14We are all taking pills.

02:19We are all taking pills to be able to sleep,

02:22because the nightmares are recurring every day. I can't stop to think about

02:26how my father suffered.

02:28He was clinging to a fence without anyone rescuing him.

02:32Life for her and her family will never be the same again.

02:40Mery García has sent a petition to Spain's Congress

02:44demanding justice for the dead. Tens of thousands have signed.

02:49Back at the butcher shop, where volunteers from all parts of the country

02:54cleaned and rebuilt the shop again,

02:55giving people back something as normal as grocery shopping.

02:59It seems like nothing has happened

03:02when everything has happened. I'm happy because we were practically abandoned.

03:06We had nowhere to go to buy anything, nothing, not even a simple loaf of bread.

03:11After the horrors people in the region had to endure,

03:17it's the little things that seem like miracles. And they know whom to thank.

03:21There's a saying making the rounds here. Only the people

03:25save the people.

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