The lethal effects caused by the stormy Gloria in Spain, which has resulted in significant material damage and the death of more than a dozen people, should urge all public administrations to lead an institutional and social reaction capable of avoiding a similar devastation in the future . The consequences of this storm have been devastating. And this to the point of exceeding not only the forecasts of meteorologists but of collapsing the assistance of public services . The most affected area has been the Mediterranean, but it has also been noted with virulence in interior provinces such as Teruel, reduced by the lack of resources to help the population. The storm threw rain, snow and hail, and winds of more than 100 km / hour. And the flood of 3,000 hectares in the Ebro Delta threatens the biodiversity of this extraordinary natural space.

Gloria joins two other extreme episodes suffered by the coast in just nine months: the torrential rains in Valencia and Alicante during Holy Week and the DANA of September, which was primed with Murcia. Faced with such a cataract of events, public administrations must not only require a rapid and coordinated reaction to attend to those affected and repair the losses -which includes the resolution of the structural deficits generated in the affected autonomous communities-, but also a preventive response that heed the warnings of the scientific community about the impact of global warming.

Specialists consulted by this newspaper, who describe the storm suffered in recent days as "historic", underline that its frequency fits with climate change projections. More studies are needed to establish a direct link . However, this does not exempt the Government and the autonomous communities from the responsibility of articulating preventive measures , which requires strengthening the provision of means and infrastructure, as well as examining the management of the coast and urban planning. No authority is in a position to guarantee that a temporary of these characteristics is not repeated again. What is in their hands is to prevent them from generating a human and economic destruction of this caliber.

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  • Alicante
  • Spain
  • Murcia
  • Teruel
  • Valencia
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