Berliner Boersenzeitung - Spain sends thousands more troops to flood epicentre

EUR -
AED 3.996561
AFN 72.725294
ALL 98.323637
AMD 420.572784
ANG 1.958573
AOA 991.788876
ARS 1076.134061
AUD 1.658911
AWG 1.961263
AZN 1.854055
BAM 1.955673
BBD 2.194258
BDT 129.861596
BGN 1.961522
BHD 0.409773
BIF 3157.495671
BMD 1.08808
BND 1.438807
BOB 7.536512
BRL 6.386379
BSD 1.08673
BTN 91.400085
BWP 14.52806
BYN 3.55647
BYR 21326.35992
BZD 2.190558
CAD 1.519399
CDF 3141.834075
CHF 0.940411
CLF 0.037867
CLP 1044.862384
CNY 7.750069
CNH 7.74636
COP 4807.788876
CRC 557.263938
CUC 1.08808
CUP 28.834109
CVE 110.257865
CZK 25.448554
DJF 193.517477
DKK 7.490671
DOP 65.395768
DZD 144.348659
EGP 53.012569
ERN 16.321194
ETB 130.513654
FJD 2.449054
FKP 0.832565
GBP 0.842134
GEL 2.975941
GGP 0.832565
GHS 17.713854
GIP 0.832565
GMD 77.801881
GNF 9372.39349
GTQ 8.396457
GYD 227.255294
HKD 8.463573
HNL 27.394227
HRK 7.495813
HTG 143.010745
HUF 410.101365
IDR 17244.973386
ILS 4.083046
IMP 0.832565
INR 91.544325
IQD 1423.607875
IRR 45799.994199
ISK 149.556959
JEP 0.832565
JMD 172.258853
JOD 0.771562
JPY 166.503422
KES 140.190928
KGS 93.361362
KHR 4416.714184
KMF 493.825338
KPW 979.271384
KRW 1501.920195
KWD 0.333617
KYD 0.905641
KZT 531.465608
LAK 23851.456515
LBP 97316.602407
LKR 318.359398
LRD 208.656497
LSL 19.126862
LTL 3.212817
LVL 0.658169
LYD 5.236661
MAD 10.680109
MDL 19.452741
MGA 5009.675812
MKD 61.611013
MMK 3534.040058
MNT 3697.294469
MOP 8.705337
MRU 43.145208
MUR 49.899742
MVR 16.767718
MWK 1884.378057
MXN 22.069196
MYR 4.764161
MZN 69.539577
NAD 19.126862
NGN 1792.615173
NIO 39.987412
NOK 11.960672
NPR 146.240536
NZD 1.824566
OMR 0.417113
PAB 1.08683
PEN 4.101835
PGK 4.355718
PHP 63.505807
PKR 301.784871
PLN 4.381081
PYG 8585.444415
QAR 3.961644
RON 4.994725
RSD 117.042426
RUB 106.493109
RWF 1485.903844
SAR 4.07604
SBD 9.05275
SCR 14.801342
SDG 654.483872
SEK 11.534345
SGD 1.442835
SHP 0.832565
SLE 24.754214
SLL 22816.481435
SOS 621.05981
SRD 37.663916
STD 22521.050642
SVC 9.508385
SYP 2733.832898
SZL 19.121763
THB 36.967545
TJS 11.551952
TMT 3.808279
TND 3.365082
TOP 2.548395
TRY 37.349968
TTD 7.366523
TWD 34.750872
TZS 2934.21012
UAH 44.914893
UGX 3978.742526
USD 1.08808
UYU 45.007087
UZS 13905.100167
VEF 3941625.468227
VES 46.573289
VND 27528.41357
VUV 129.179027
WST 3.047911
XAF 655.914554
XAG 0.032257
XAU 0.0004
XCD 2.94059
XDR 0.816847
XOF 655.914554
XPF 119.331742
YER 272.40112
ZAR 19.215747
ZMK 9794.025888
ZMW 29.151114
ZWL 350.361183
  • NGG

    0.6700

    64.26

    +1.04%

  • SCS

    0.1100

    12.14

    +0.91%

  • RELX

    0.8600

    47.08

    +1.83%

  • BCE

    -0.1600

    32.1

    -0.5%

  • RIO

    0.4400

    65.33

    +0.67%

  • BCC

    1.1800

    134.21

    +0.88%

  • RBGPF

    66.4100

    66.41

    +100%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.05

    -0.23%

  • CMSC

    -0.0200

    24.53

    -0.08%

  • CMSD

    0.1500

    24.81

    +0.6%

  • VOD

    0.0800

    9.35

    +0.86%

  • GSK

    0.1200

    36.88

    +0.33%

  • RYCEF

    0.0500

    7.13

    +0.7%

  • AZN

    0.2700

    71.42

    +0.38%

  • BTI

    0.0900

    35.07

    +0.26%

  • BP

    -0.1300

    29.23

    -0.44%

Spain sends thousands more troops to flood epicentre
Spain sends thousands more troops to flood epicentre / Photo: Manaure Quintero - AFP

Spain sends thousands more troops to flood epicentre

Spain is deploying 10,000 more troops and police officers to the eastern Valencia region devastated by historic floods that have killed 211 people, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday.

Text size:

Hopes of finding survivors were slim more than three days after torrents of muddy water submerged towns and wrecked infrastructure in the European country's worst such disaster in decades.

Almost all the deaths have been recorded in the Valencia region, where thousands of security and emergency services personnel were frantically clearing debris and mud in the search for bodies.

Sanchez said in a televised address that the disaster was the second deadliest flood in Europe this century and announced a huge increase in the security forces dedicated to relief works.

The government had accepted the Valencia region leader's request for 5,000 more troops and informed him of a further deployment of 5,000 police officers and civil guards, Sanchez said.

Spain was carrying out its largest deployment of army and security force personnel in peacetime, he added.

- More deaths expected -

Restoring order and distributing aid to destroyed towns and villages -- some of which have been cut off from food, water and power for days -- is a priority.

Authorities have come under fire over the adequacy of warning systems before the floods, and some stricken residents have complained the response to the disaster is too slow.

"I am aware the response is not enough, there are problems and severe shortages... towns buried by mud, desperate people searching for their relatives... we have to improve," Sanchez said.

In the ground-zero towns of Alfafar and Sedavi, AFP reporters saw no soldiers while residents shovelled mud from their homes and firefighters pumped water from garages and tunnels.

"Politicians promise a lot, help will come when it comes," said Mario Silvestre, 86, a resident of Chiva where gaping sinkholes risked triggering the collapse of buildings.

Authorities in the Valencia region have restricted access to roads for two days to allow emergency services to carry out search, rescue and logistics operations more effectively.

Officials have said dozens of people remain unaccounted for. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told radio station Cadena Ser on Friday it was "reasonable" to believe more fatalities would emerge.

But with telephone and transport networks severely damaged, establishing a precise figure is difficult.

Sanchez said electricity had been restored to 94 percent of homes affected by power outages and that around half of the cut telephone lines had been repaired.

Some motorways have reopened but local and regional roads resembled a "Swiss cheese", meaning certain places would probably remain inaccessible by land for weeks, Transport Minister Oscar Puente told El Pais daily.

- 'Overwhelmed' by solidarity -

Thousands of ordinary citizens pushing shopping trolleys and carrying cleaning equipment took to the streets on Friday to help with the recovery.

Susana Camarero, deputy head of the Valencia region, said some municipalities were "overwhelmed" by the solidarity and food they had received.

The movement continued on Saturday as around 1,000 people set off from the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia towards nearby towns laid waste by the floods, an AFP journalist saw.

Authorities have urged them to stay at home to avoid congestion on the roads that would hamper the work of emergency services.

The storm that sparked the floods on Tuesday formed as cold air moved over the warm waters of the Mediterranean and is common for this time of year.

But scientists warn climate change driven by human activity is increasing the ferocity, length and frequency of such extreme weather events.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)