Portugal sends help to flood-affected Valencia
Portugal is sending a joint civil protection and armed forces force with more than 100 personnel to help with the flood relief efforts in Valencia, Spain.
In a joint statement, the ministries of national defence and of the interior said that the force will be made up of 101 civil protection personnel, firefighters, the National Emergency Medical Institute (INEM) and 28 military personnel from the three branches of the armed forces.
This aid is being sent under the international aid request to the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
“The Joint Force will be equipped with 40 vehicles, 28 of which will be operated by civil protection personnel, including three excavators, a high-speed mud pump, six sewage pumps, a high-speed sewage pump, a mud pumping module and five mud pumps,” say the two ministries.
Meanwhile, the Navy, Army and Air Force “are sending 12 vehicles, namely two excavators, a high flow sewage pump, two sewage motor pumps, two small flow sewage pumps, a rotary excavator, a wheel loader, two earth moving lorries and a Bobcat“.
On Monday, the regional government of the Valencian Community in Spain asked the rest of the country for resources to clear the sewage network of silt and water and avoid ‘serious public health problems’ following the floods on October 29.
Two weeks after the floods, in which more than 220 people died, work continues to clean up the affected areas and the general public is being alerted and advised for fear of public health problems.
The floods in south-eastern Spain last week caused damage in 78 municipalities, 75 of which were in the autonomous region of the Valencian Community, according to figures updated by the Spanish government.
Source: LUSA
