The search for the clock of the victims of the Dana: « I lived in an affected house, but I cannot demonstrate it » | News from the Valencian Community

« Salta! », Listened Tatiana Quimbaya in the most critical hours of The Dana de Valencia. This 45 -year -old Colombian woman toured the municipality of Alfafar when the enraged current disarmed everything in her path. He says that, with the water to the waist, he raffled the flow of vehicles and furniture dragged to meet with his 15 -year -old daughter in Benetús. « I grab you, you jump! » He shouted a resident who helped her cross in these conditions. Quimbaya clings to this story and the testimony of a couple of neighbors to demonstrate that he lived in an area affected by the flood. Without documents that prove their residence in this municipality – as the registration fundamentally, but without other evidence as medical or school certificates -, it will not be able to benefit from the appeal for extraordinary regularization raised by the central government to provide the migrant population with a residence permit for one year.

The measure entered into force on February 14 of this year and established as a maximum period for submitting applications on May 14. In principle, only those registered foreigners (or by appointment to do so) in some of the 83 affected municipalities before November 4 may benefit from this resource. Although a subsequent statement from the Valencia Foreigner Office declared that favorable parts of the municipalities would also be accepted as effective residence reports – provided that they were previously validated for social services or the City Council itself. In mid -April, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations communicated that had received 23,000 applications, of which 95% had a favorable resolution.

« There is a very serious problem and it is that many people have not been able to benefit from this regularization because they cannot access the register or the document provided by the City Council, » explains Ana Ferrer from the offices of the Valencia Association, an organization dedicated to the support of migrants. The folders of migrants who seek to time to obtain these documents so as not to be out of extraordinary regularization accumulate at the Ferrer table. « We have received about 400 applications and approximately one third does not have registration, » he says. In a recent statement, foreigners clarified that even with a valid effective residence certificate, cases of non -registered migrants in the province of Valencia will be rejected.

The underlying problem is in the type of housing that foreigners can access in an irregular situation, says Ferrer. “Lack of a source of demonstrable income, they must go to a precarious housing market, where patera floors with up to 12 tenants in two or three room departments abound and where, for obvious reasons, they cannot register all. There are also cases of migrants whose tenants receive aid from the State and that, in theory, cannot rent their home to anyone, so they refuse to register their occupants; and other spaces that simply not simply They have a habitability card such as basements or stores, which are leased to entire families, ”says the social educator.

This was the case of Leidy Piedrahita, who landed in Spain on September 23, 2024 from Armenia, a city west of Colombia. Piedrahita and her two children came to stay in the Monastery of the Dominicans, in the upper part of the municipality of Torrent, in a space that a woman rented without permission from the religious. Several tenants who went through the place denounced the harsh conditions of the leased rooms. Piedrahita paid up to 400 euros for a room she shared with her family and during the first month lived under the promise that she would soon receive an appointment to register.

« The registration is a right for those who come to live in Spain, they have papers in order or not, » says Pilar Serrano, Valencia’s lawyer hosts, « allows them to have access to essential benefits such as health or education for your children, but many migrants believe they cannot claim anything given their administrative condition. » An Oxfam study estimates that about 40,000 citizens in irregular condition reside in the Valencian Community. This figure exceeds the local census as Paiporta (25,000), Catarroja (30,000) or Aldaia (32,000).

Piedrahita, 30, went to the City Council to obtain a register certificate several days after the flood, but her name did not see in the list of shifts of the municipal house, despite the promise of the alleged tenant. « They told us that if the woman who rented us did not appear in the process, they could not do anything. » A few days later he had to leave the room and since then he lives in Pobla Llarga, 80 kilometers from Valencia, waiting for a call of social services that finally certifies that he was affected by the Dana. « The register has denied him even though he resided in a property, in theory, managed by the City Council, » says Ferrer. Torrent appears cited in the Greuges Union report of 2024, A document with recommendations to the Administrationfor « not to offer correct information people in situations of special vulnerability » in obtaining the register. Until the publication of this report, the municipality has not responded to the request for information issued by this newspaper.

According to Ferrer, there are municipal offices that are more flexible when making the effective housing report, but there are others that « are completely disregarding. » It considers that foreigners have left at the discretion of local administrations the decision to issue or not reports that affected migrants can attach in their requests, which has resulted in a kind of “lottery” of certificates among the peoples affected by the climate episode. The Women’s Association warns about the worrying situation that this panorama creates: « It forces many foreigners, especially women and their families, to depend on intermediaries that charge abusive rates in exchange for expediting the obtaining of these documents, but without any guarantee. »

From the intercultural platform of Spain, an entity that brings together more than 80 associations composed of migrants, share discomfort. Its president, Eduardo Bejar, states that it is true that there are some local administrations that have been flexible, but subscribe that in the face of “the fear of an effect called” – which the municipal offices are in applications – some others are denying the certificate, even if the migrants have evidence that they lived in the area during and before the night of the flood. Applicants have reached the Social Services offices with all the evidence they have been able to join, adds Ferrer; Certificates of the near health center, complaints, documents signed by the Red Cross, photos or videos. Ferrer knows that some municipalities have signed reports taking into account these tests.

Francisco Mora, president of the Valencian Migration Observatory, confirms that the foreigner office is being flexible when accepting official documents of the affected municipalities or districts that are not precisely certified in registration. It has, as evidence, a file resolved favorably by foreigners where a applicant only attached a letter signed by the mayor of a district affected by the Dana.

Quimbaya does not give up the mission of getting one of these documents. He moved to Benetússer sentences five days before it happened The Dana that left 228 dead on October 29. And he was waiting for the owner of the property, who lives outside the country, would send him a copy of the contract to formalize the registration. But after the flood, it did not consist of the municipal lists as a neighbor of Benetússer. He reports that he lost his job, which he charged without a contract in between, in a cleaning services company in Paiporta. He strives to teach evidence on the mobile of the days before the tragedy. « Yes, this is my daughter helping to distribute food in the town, » he describes next to a video where the minor appears delivering food to those affected. A neighbor of her floor in Benetússer confirms that Quimbaya had moved to the building days before the flood. The Social Services Office of this municipality has refused to make statements for the country after being consulted on this case.

« We are going to spend the latest available cartridges, » Ferrer shares. The association has been dedicated, in a first phase, to deliver all the files that all the documents in order had, including the registration certificate. During the remainder of days until the deadline, the rest of the applications will be sent attaching the evidence that the applicants have brought. « They arrive and ask us to want to try anyway, » ditch. An affirmative answer could mark the beginning of a new life in Spain.