While last Tuesday we still had no idea of the enormous damage that the DANA would cause in Valencia, this has now become painfully clear. It became clear that news about the disaster had quickly reached the Netherlands when we received many messages from friends and family in the Netherlands on Wednesday evening (and in the following days). “Are you all right?”, “How is your situation?” and “What a terrible thing that happened there!”
I can only confirm the latter. Fortunately, we are okay and there is no damage in Vall de Gallinera, but our hearts go out to all the people who have lost loved ones in the disaster, whose relatives and friends are still missing or whose houses and cars have been completely destroyed. Because how quickly a disaster of this magnitude can unfold is something Noëlle and I were able to see with our own eyes last week. On that day (a week ago at the time of writing) we drove our father’s car to Ikea in Alfafar (just below Valencia) with a shopping list that would keep us busy for a while. After more than three hours of shopping, we didn’t have much energy left to visit some of the other shops nearby. Because the wind strength started to increase quickly and we also expected a visit from Lisa and Werner a few hours later, we decided to end our shopping trip early and drive home.
Only when I saw the expected arrival time on Google Maps did I suggest driving past the Action in Carcaixent. With a “Time-wise, it doesn’t make much difference and we don’t need more than fifteen minutes there anyway,” I convinced my sister of the plan. Because Carcaixent is a bit more inland, we now took the A-7 home instead of the usual AP-7. Only when we were hit by a huge downpour along the way and we tried to make our way to our next destination at twenty kilometers per hour with our emergency lights on and windows fully open so as not to lose too much view of the road, that we started to doubt the plan. While one road after another to Carcaixent appeared to be closed and we looked in amazement at the orange fields, which were already more than a meter under water, we had no choice but to return home. Fortunately, the sky cleared quickly and we got home without too many problems. It was only in the following days that it became clear to us how lucky we really were. Rows of broken cars on the road to Alfafar and images of the Ikea parking lot that was completely flooded a few hours after we left. In the end, about seven hundred people spent the night there.
It has now become clear that not only Ikea, which was able to accommodate many more people than just their own customers during the night, has shown enormous solidarity. The countless food collections, monetary donations and volunteers who go to the affected areas to help, show the enormous commitment within and outside the Valencia region. And I therefore ask those who, like us, also want to contribute to the reconstruction of the affected disaster areas, to donate. Every little bit helps. In addition to the countless official initiatives, there are also several good private initiatives, set up by people who witnessed the disaster with their own eyes. A great initiative is that of the German Stephanie and Dutch Eline from Valencia Inside. You can donate using the following link: https://gofund.me/ab349f1d. On behalf of everyone in Valencia – thank you!