Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain
By Adam Woodward •
Published: 02 Nov 2024 • 10:51
• 1 minute read
15,000 volunteers have turned up in Valencia to help with the clean-up of the city and search for more survivors.
Carrying shovels, buckets, and brooms, all equipped out with rubber boots or hiking boots, gloves, and face masks, the first group of 2,500 arrived at 6.30am on Saturday, November 2, brought in on 90 buses, and were given a black t-shirt each with the word ‘voluntario’ printed on the back.
Each was assigned to a group of 50 with different shifts and then bused off to some of the most affected zones in Requena, Chiva, and Aldaia to the south of the city and to the neighbourhoods of Sedaví, Alfafar, and Catarroja.
All volunteers carried with them water and food for the day, some to even donate. There were people of all ages and professions, and children were seen accompanied by their parents.
Barely enough buses to transport volunteers to affected areas
In a huge line, thousands of people are patiently waiting for the organisation, led by the Valencia government, to tell them which bus to get on and where they are needed most. There were too many to be carried by all the buses, and so they were thanked and asked to come back on Sunday and Monday. The Generalitat, Valencia’s regional government, has asked people who want to collaborate to come in the next few days and do so gradually in order to be able to manage the organisation and direct them in the most efficient way possible and to make the trips in a staggered manner.
A volunteer coordination centre has been set up in collaboration with the volunteering platform of the Valencia council. Huge swathes of people arrived after a call for help in the clean-up went viral. Few expected such a response.
The association SOS Desaparecidos has received over 1,300 calls, emails, and enquiries through social networks related to people who have disappeared since the storms began on Tuesday, October 29. Joaquín Amills, president of the association, has warned that it is impossible to determine the total number of people missing due to the effects of flood waters.
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