In the Government Council of the Junta de Andalucía, they were aware of the “discomfort and nervousness” among the mayors and citizens of Granada due to the absence of the president, Juan Manuel Moreno, almost a month after the first major earthquake of magnitude 5 on August 15, which led to a succession of tremors that continue to shake the territory and keep 200 people evacuated, and the lack of response in the form of aid, according to sources close to the autonomous government. The popular leader wanted to alleviate this discontent with a visit to the capital where he met with more than twenty representatives of the affected municipalities and neighborhood associations, in which he announced a package of aid amounting to 46,200,000 euros to address damage to municipal, health, educational, judicial infrastructures, housing, and the Alhambra. “I intended to come when we had resources,” Moreno explained about why he had not come earlier to visit the epicenter of the seismic swarms.
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This plan had been announced a day earlier by the spokesperson of the Junta and Minister of Finance, Carolina España, although she did not reveal its content to leave all the spotlight to the president. What she did report was another series of aids amounting to seven million euros for the affected municipalities, which have already been published in the BOJA (the Official Bulletin of the community). That allocation is included in the package presented this Wednesday by Moreno, which allocates eight million to guarantee the safety of buildings intended for homeowners’ associations and single-family homes not covered by the Insurance Compensation Consortium; 15.5 million through the new Andalusian Housing Plan for work on 12 buildings and 150 homes that will be replaced, in some cases by new ones; four million to secure, stabilize, and consolidate elements of the Alhambra palace; 330,000 euros to repair active participation centers and the Armilla elderly residence; 160,000 euros in judicial infrastructures and more than 10 million in health centers and educational centers.
These funds have been gathered in the last three weeks, according to the Andalusian president, because “there was no economic forecast for a situation like the one that has happened” during this time. “The management teams have come out of their vacations and together with the minister and myself have been working to make credit modifications and get money from under the stones and be able to come today with some of the first solutions.” This is how Moreno wanted to justify not having visited Granada until this Wednesday, 25 days after the first major seismic movement whose aftershocks have caused the evacuation of up to 600 neighbors, 200 of whom still cannot return to their homes due to the condition of their houses.
The popular leader insisted that in this type of emergency there is a protocol and that the first to attend should be the technicians. “The first day there I have no role. I go at the end, when there is a damage assessment and when there are resources available,” he maintained, giving other examples such as the Niebla (Huelva) fire, the second worst fire in terms of hectares burned (38,000) in Andalusia, which he visited on August 14 (a day before the first tremor in Granada). Four days later, he became the first regional president to visit the city of Ceuta to show his support to his Ceutan counterpart, Juan Jesús Vivas, amid the migration crisis. Moreno did clarify that if there are loss of lives, top political leaders must be present immediately. “The situation changes.”
All in all, the leader of the Andalusian popular party recalled that his intention was to have traveled to Granada last week – his visit was announced for September 3 – but a flight delay prevented him from arriving on time. “I was coming to present the plan before approving it in the Council and we approved it yesterday so now we come with the plan approved and part of it published in the BOJA,” he insisted, after recalling that the first vice president of the Junta and Minister of Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, and the Minister of Housing, the Granadian Rocío Díaz, were on the ground from the moment the capital trembled for the first time. Both, along with the Minister of Finance, accompanied the president in his meeting with the mayors.
Moreno also called on the central government “to get involved in that aid” through the declaration of a severely affected zone, a measure that, according to the government delegate Pedro Fernández on Tuesday, is “a matter of days” for the Ministry of the Interior to activate. The first vice president, Carlos Cuerpo, who visited Granada on August 26, announced the mobilization of 100 million euros for repair payments through the Insurance Compensation Consortium.
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