[Opinión] DANA in Valencia will go down in history as the biggest environmental tragedy in the history of Spain this century. Get out of here ours Remembrance and love to all relatives and friends of the deceased, injured and missingas well as the thousands of people who lost their homes, belongings or vehicles. And of course to all the professionals and volunteers who try their best to minimize the effects of the disaster.

We could talk at length about what is happening around the calamity (the most devastating cold drop in the history of Spain since records exist) that has been gripping our hearts since last Tuesday. Some of our editors live there and others have family members and/or reside in Valencia, which is a nice place to be, whether for immigration, work or holiday matters in other Spanish regions. Even without bonds, no one, least of all a person, can escape the suffering of such a tragedy.

Without wanting to enter directly into political duties that frankly do not concern us right now, nor do we need to do so in an environment such as ours, we must demand from our rulers, and we want to do it from here, maximum willingness, efficiency and help minimize the impact of human and material disasters. In a time of ideological hatred like no other in this country, the best news would be for administrations of different political groups to seamlessly join together to manage the response to the calamity and forgo any temptation to make political use of the disaster. And a message of hope for all.

DANA from Valencia: Internet, warnings and climate change

Social networks, the internet and digital media in general are the most useful element when we face any tragedy and of course prevent it. And here we have to talk about information and warning systems that allow us to reach the entire population in seconds. They certainly weren’t working on this occasion late and ineffective. And not because of the technical experts who warned, but because of the incompetence and lack of flattery of the politicians in service who have to activate them. And why not acknowledge it, given the lack of preparedness of the general population when it comes to their compliance.

It is a warning for the future, as DANA and other climate forcings will continue to wreak havoc. Hopefully not at the virulence of the death toll of this and for this warnings will be essential. We insist: if there is courage to issue them at any cost and enforce their compliance. And the citizens will get the mentality.

The Internet has also proven to be an essential tool in finding the missing, as we saw with SOS Valencia; expedite financial donations; for collecting food and materials and very long etc. Of course; send a simple digital message of encouragement that is always appreciated to those who have lost everything and coordinate thousands of volunteers who want to work together to an exercise in solidarity in which Spain shines every time it is needed and this is very annoying.

The worst garbage is not on the streets, but on the Internet

Unfortunately, social networks and the Internet They are also an ideal vehicle for spreading hoaxes, misinformation and outright lies. above all and towards everyone. For someone like the undersigned, who already used IRC as a means of communication at a time when there was no current social network, checking the current situation of this media is discouraging, as there is as much garbage as the streets of the DANA-affected cities of Valencia.

We are used to seeing cybercriminals use any media impact to launch their malicious campaigns, but what is happening here is beyond any known parameter. Agitators, deniers, frauds, Nazis and generally all sorts of scumbags are take advantage of someone else’s misfortune and impunity networks of networks to spread all sorts of stories that have little to do with reality. Or half-truths, always interesting, which are even harder to find.

Some, like those who talk about governments causing storms, may border on nonsense, but they are very dangerous because there are people who believe this and follow climate change deniers. Hundreds of climatologists emerged among the national “fraternity” as engineers and geologists warned (for decades) that Uncontrolled and insane construction in some areas would eventually cause disastersit’s scary. Or the increasing incidence of emergency management technicians…

Other hoaxes can cost livessuch as those relating to the emergency call 112 or warnings of vehicles leaving or entering certain areas. Just like scammers who try to “extract” money from victims and pocket it. Or the ‘journalist’ who defames the profession and throws himself down to dirty himself and show that we don’t know what before he goes on TV. Or the lies that say “thousands of the dead were hidden” in some of the affected parking lots. Another group of fake news directly promotes violence with the aim of instilling distrust in institutions or lining their pockets with money. We see everything.

Maldita.es, a web portal specialized in the fight against fraud and lies on the Internet, reviewed some of them and warned against groups of botsautomated or semi-automated accounts, many of them from India, that publish and massively respond to tweets on X about DANA from Valencia. They include or replicate all the crap we talked about and more.

Disinformation in an emergency situation is very dangerous. The swirl of content posted on social media without any type of veracity is the perfect fuel for chaos and from there We ask that you do not share or feed unreliable content. It is time for people of good faith and common sense to let the professionals do the work, even if we all think we are late, and in general to get involved as much as everyone can to minimize the consequences of the tragedy. If you wish to cooperate, do so only through safe organizations and channels such as the Red Cross. Good luck everyone!