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A Valencian employee confirmed that emergency services considered sending DANA an hour and half before the alert was actually sent.
During an investigation into the devastating floods that killed 228 people in October, it was revealed.
Jorge Suarez confirmed today that the Catarroja Court was delayed by the regional coordinator of Valencia, Cecopi.
He said that he had first considered sending an alert known as Es Alert, at 6:36 PM, one hour and a quarter before it was actually sent at 8-11 PM.
READ MORE : Judge in charge of investigating Valencia flooding disaster says that if warnings were sent sooner, lives could have saved
Credit Image: © David Aparicio Fita/ZUMA Press Wire
Salome Pradas’ testimony last month, in which she stated that the government started to consider sending out the alert as early as 7pm, is contrasted with this statement.
She was not called as a witness, but rather appeared before the court as an accused.
Suarez’s testimony may clarify what occurred between 6-7pm when Cecopi workers working at home were disconnected from an urgent Zoom meeting.
Pradas made a phone call of seven minutes to the president of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, during this time gap. The contents are unknown.
Cordon Press Photo
During those devastating floods, Emilio Arrgueso’s deputy was in charge of Valencian Agency of Emergency Safety and Response. In this case, he is also the defendant.
Suarez claims that he was told about phone communication problems on the DANA day.
“I worked remotely. He told the court that they told him to be ready for an Es Alert.
He had worked with the 112 Emergency Services for more than 25 years. They handled over 20,000 phone calls on the tragic day.
Suarez says he has not tested the Es Alert System since May 2023, despite being advised to do so at least once per year.
Pradas, his boss, admitted that she didn’t know about the system before the floods.
READ MORE : Judge orders the firing of emergency chiefs for failing to send a flood warning in Valencia on time
Although 23 operatives had been authorized to send out alerts and it was suggested that the message be sent at 6:36pm the warning wasn’t issued until 8-11pm.
At 8:08pm, authorities gave the green light to an employee authorised to ‘validate’ the message and it took three minutes to alert Valencian citizens that the origin of the flooding, the Poyo river, had burst.
The delay was in part due to poor telephone communications, with calls from Suarez cutting off or being ‘too quiet’ for the employee to hear.
However, the employee did maintain that they kept contact with the ‘responsible technician’, Suarez, during the incident.
The overseeing judge, Nuria Ruiz Tobarra said if the alert was sent ‘earlier’ and was ‘better’ composed lives could have been saved.
She was surprised that the message she received did not advise her to go to the first floors of buildings in order to gain higher ground.
Suarez’s testimonies join those of an emergency technician, who gave testimony last week.
They stated that Pradas told them ‘not to send anything until she gave the final green light,’ testimony which contradicts the ex-advisor’s defence.
READ MORE: Valencia president Carlos Mazon apologises for ‘mistakes’ made during handling of DANA disaster – but refuses to resign
