At least 51 people have died in Spain from devastating flash floods, authorities say
Associated PressNOV 12 2024
Spain's government on Tuesday announced a €10.6B ($11.4B) relief package to help those affected by last week's floods that killed at least 217 people.
The package includes €838M ($902M) in cash payouts to small businesses and self-employed workers affected by the floods, while €5B ($5.4B) was earmarked for government-backed loans. Meanwhile, the national government will finance the entirety of the clean-up costs and half of the costs for infrastructure repair incurred by local councils.
It came as regional authorities in Valencia, the hardest-hit region, said that at least 89 people remain missing, warning that those numbers could yet rise as more people are registered.
The Spanish government is doing all it can to help those affected by the flooding. That includes this relief package but also deploying more than 15K soldiers and police officers to help with clean-up and rescue operations.
When Morocco faced an earthquake, it took the left-wing Spanish government a few hours to allocate funds to help with the response. Why has it taken longer than a week to make the same response available to its own people?