The Government declares a Catastrophic Zone to the Territories affected by Filomena

The temporary ‘Filomena’ caused great damage in many Spanish cities Due to the amount of ice and snow accumulated, as well as the fall of multitude of trees they could not bear the weight of the great snowfall. As a consequence, many employees were unable to go to work, as the use of the vehicle is very dangerous, and thousands of children have not yet been able to go to class.

After reviewing the damage, several communities, including the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha, requested the central government to declare a ‘catastrophic zone’ due to the damage caused to the roads and public areas of various towns, cities and municipalities.

The government has been evaluating the damage and reports issued by the autonomous communities and has already made a decision. As they have communicated to Europa Press government sources, The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the declaration of ‘Area Seriously Affected by a Civil Protection Emergency’ (catastrophic area) for the territories affected by the snowstorm ‘Filomena’.

Almeida, grateful to the Government

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, on Tuesday thanked the National Government for the decision to declare the capital as a ‘Area Seriously Affected by a Civil Protection Emergency’: “He does the right thing”, has declared. The Madrid City Council has estimated the damage caused in the city after the heavy snowfall at 1,398 million euros.

Catastrophic zone

Catastrophic zone refers to “Area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency”, as established in the Law 17/2015, of July 9, on the National Civil Protection System. The declaration or not of this state is included in the Chapter V of said legislation, which in its article 23, Procedure for declaring an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, notes:

1. The declaration of an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency provided for in this law will be made by agreement of the Council of Ministers., at the proposal of the Ministers of Finance and Public Administrations and the Interior and, where appropriate, the heads of the other ministries concerned, and will include, in any case, the delimitation of the affected area.Said declaration may be requested by the interested public administrations. In these cases, and prior to its declaration, the Government may request a report from the affected autonomous community or communities.

2. For the purposes of declaring an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, it will be assessed, in any case, that there has been personal or material damage derived of an accident that seriously disturbs the living conditions of the population in a specific geographic area or when there is a stoppage, as a consequence of the same, of all or some of the essential public services.