À Punt's coverage of the Valencia dana: delivery, public service and technology

The À Punt, represented by Iván Esteve, director of news; Higinio Añó, director of exploitation and engineering, and Luis López, director of the Systems and Communication Unit, transfer the keys to the technical and human deployment that allowed to shed light and give voice to those affected by the Dana de Valencia, catastrophe that razed Valencia on October 29, leaving 224 fatal victims.

“On the third day of the Dana, a neighbor of Paiporta who had worked on Channel Nou, our previous stage. drone the next day when no one had arrived; The images were a historical document, and I wanted to give them to us ... but they had no internet and we had to go going, wear a hard drive, pick up the images and return… ”

The October 24, Aemet, State Meteorology Agency, sending a first message by warning of a Dana, still without knowledge of its final position. On the 27th, the agency issued a "special notice" indicating that in the Mediterranean area The showers would be "much stronger or even torrential." A day later, the Valencia University convened its emergency committee and decided, late in the afternoon, to suspend the classes of the next day, a decision shared by the Polytechnic University. At 07:31 On Tuesday, October 29, the Aemet of Valencia warns of Civil Protection to raise the red notice in the north interior zone of the province. Five minutes later, as detailed by the Excellent article of Natalia Junquera for The country, collecting the complete sequence of the facts, the alert extends to the southern coast.

“Four days before, that is, on Friday morning, Victoria Rosselló, the head of the Meteorology Service, sent me a message to tell me to be confirmed and advanced some amounts of rainfall: 100 and 200 liters generalized. Added an expression: "And who touchs him, or where he touches, more than 500 will fall””. – Esteve.

In front of a official report what justifies negligence in unpredictability, accompanied with the usual cross accusations, À Punt, Valencian public television ensures that the Dana "He took prevented”. So much so that, on the same morning of the 29th, the informatives of the chain already reported the First floods and floods; Everything, with technical teams such as backpacks or DSNG previously rented.

Esteve He received the warning of the house meteorology, the weather, that a Dana was being formed with A week in advance: “Four days before, that is, on Friday morning, Victoria Rosselló, the head of the Meteorology Service, sent me a message to tell me that some amounts of rainfall were confirmed and advanced: 100 and 200 liters generalized. He added an expression:"And who touchs him, or where he touches, more than 500 will fall"," Says the director of news.

The À Punt I was prevented: he designed a plan of action throughout the prior weekend To reinforce equipment from the first hour of the Tomorrow of October 29.

The forecasts were worrisome. They remembered a similar weather phenomenon in the Vega Baja in Alicante in 2019, which left records of up to 543 liters per square meter in 48 hours. It was the natural disaster with the greatest economic cost in the history of Spain (1.3 billion euros) and took the lives of six people. This precedent led the à tip team to design a plan of action Throughout the previous weekend and reinforce teams since the early morning of October 29. Among other decisions, it was decided to add six backpacks LiveU, which would complement the units Aviwest existing. They were accompanied by light cameras of Sony, like models PXW-280 or PXW-X400. This rent was not enough to respond to what would precede: the greatest informative coverage of the history of à punt, and the more exhausting, physical, mentally and emotionally.

"Natacha Blay, production director, called her to manage the images of the drones."What do you want for the images?”, He asked. We are used to paying for that type of material. The girl refused to charge us anything. But he said: “I give it to you, but since you are coming, if you could bring us flashlight batteries... we don't have light either and they are running out. ”

With those first information, a task of Public Service that would end up being the "most difficult", in Estave's words, that the à tip team has had to face. "The writing effort has been brutal. People were done dust, burst. But asked when I could go out again," he recalls, recognizing the trembling voice "Emotional impact"That has had what happened above all the team.

"The Writing effort It has been brutal. People were made dust, burst. But I asked When could I go out again”. - Ivan's evening

On the afternoon-night the worst hours of the Dana were lived. Alaquàs, Albal, Albalat de la Ribera, Alborache, Alcàsser, Alcúdia, Aldaia, Alfafar, Alfarb, Algemesí, Alginet, Almussafes, Alzira, Benetússer, Benicull of Júcar, Benifaió, Beniparrell, Bétera, Bugarra, Buñol, Calles, Calles, Callas, Carcaixent, Catadau, Catarroja, Caudete de Las Fuentes, Chera, Cheste, Chiva, Chulilla, Corbera, Cullera, Dos Aguas, Favara, Fortaleny, Fuenterrobles, Gestalgar, Godelleta, Guadassuar, L'Aènova, Llaurí, Llombai, Llíria, Place of the Crown, Loriguilla, Manuel, Manuel, Manuel, Massanassa, Millares, Mislata, Montroi/Montroy, Montserrat, Paiporta, Paterna, Pedralba, Picanya, Picassent, Polinyà de Júcar, La Pobla Llarga, Quart de Poblet, Rafelguaraf, Real, Requena, Riba-roja de Túria, Riola, Sedaví, Sentera, Siete Aguas, Silla, Silla, Chera, Swedish, Tavernes de la Valldigna, Torrent, Tous, Turís, Utiel, Valencia (Pedranías Sur: Castellar''Oliveral, El Palmar, El Forn d'Alcedo, La Torre-Faitanar, El Perellonet, Pinedo, La Punta and Saler), Vilamarxant, Xirivella and Yátova They were affected, to a greater or lesser extent. Floods, floods and confusion.

In those critical hours, five à punt teams were seen Without the possibility of returning to the headquarters of the chain in Burjasot or its own homes. Two stayed on the A3, Buñol and Requena road; Three had to be housed by residents of the municipalities of the Sud Horta. Telecommunications networks began to fail, and the informative work had to cope with the Uncertainty about the relatives of the journalists themselves and technical team of the RadioTelevision, as Higinio said: "In my case, I stopped having contact with my family. There was no human way to know what conditions they were in."

At 21:30, for when the president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, he went to the citizens and reported that à Punt would become the "official information channel" of the DANA, the communication networks were falling. He 112 was also saturated, and the public radiotelevisión took a step forward so that people would tell how they were, or if he had someone missing, through a Special radio broadcast. To do this, the House General Telephone: "Although we could not really do much in that sense, it served to make these people feel heard."

The Networks failed, and the informative work had to cope with the uncertainty of the relatives of the workers themselves, as he says Higinio Añó: "In my case, I stopped having contact with my family. There was no human way of knowing Under what conditions were”.

The technology team proceeded to change audio lines so that Gustavo Clemente, driver of the night program sport, report what happened in real time. The calls, in Esteve's words, they were "chilling":" They called us from the top of a tree, the roof of a truck in the V-30 or from the roof of the Civil Guard of Paiporta, where there were 50 people between relatives and neighbors. In fact, they told us that they had lost sight of five companions. Finally, there were two civil guards who died because the wave dragged them to the barracks. ”The program is Hung on the web. For the news director, it is a "historical document from to punt y of the dana ”.

Accompanying the sound testimonies, the à Punt's news team received "very hard" images. "We know the images we have issued and those that do not”, Says Esteve, referring to videos of people floating in the water or clinging to trees or urban furniture for minutes to subsequently be dragged by the water. At all times, they are tried to avoid causing pain to spectators: “We have a cataract video of a woman who floats down the street. She is seen, she sinks, she goes up again. Try to take a tree and do not get it. These images we discard them on the night of 29, but after two days a newspaper published that a truck driver had managed to save that woman. It was a happy story. (...) Even at that time, we did not give the images. We would have remembered the families of the victims the way their relatives died”.

“Natacha replied that of course we could take batteries. And he hung the phone. But he stayed thinking, the He called again And he asked: "What do you need, really?" To which he replied: "If you can bring us some water, toilet paper and fastening ..." It is possible to get an idea of needs that people had in the areas in those days. ”

The coverage extended the next morning, and accompanied For more than a month to the Valencian citizenship. Until November 29, when the news were taken to the street for a special broadcast from the “Zero Zero”, the Paiporta casino, the à tip team offered more than more than 17 hours a day of live information.

Form the human equipment of the day coverage October 30 It was a complex work. Some workers had to sleep in the own television before the impossibility of returning to their homes; others, could be housed in nearby hotels to be able to cover what happened; Many, could not get out of their pueblos because everything was "cut and flooded."

In many municipalities of the Horta Sud There was also no telephone coverage, what made them have to record direct false, get out of the area to “try to look for some coverage" and Send them to add them to the informative grill.

These difficulties extended to informative work. Vehicles could not enter the affected municipalities until Five days later, which made the writing, camera and backpack teams on their shoulders, had to Walk several kilometers to move to places where neither police nor army had arrived. In many municipalities of the Horta Sud There was also no telephone coverage, what made them have to record direct false, get out of the area to "try to find some coverage" and send them to add them to the newspaper.

The à Punt engineering team reinforced the telecommunications area with the rental of a unit DSNG and the sporadic use of the satellite system Starlink. The decision to activate was also made Contracts of emergency for incorporation of additional personnel (editors, camera operators and sound operators) and for comprar Liveu backpacks that had been, initially rented: "We acquired them because we had a remnant for investment at the end of the year. We have left several projects by 2025, and we have put all the economic effort in equipment to be able to provide the information service."

On the 29th A vehicle disappeared With cameras, foci, microphones and retransmission backpack: the editor and camera They had that leave the car For the floods. It was found two months later in Shattered cold.

The rain, moisture and mud directly affected the equipment used for informative coverage. Añó confirms that numerous equipment has had to be reviewed to certify if it could remain used or would have to go through technical support. Also, on the day of the 29th, A vehicle disappeared With cameras, spotlights, microphones and retransmission backpack: the editor and the camera had to leave the car by the force of the floods. It was found two months later in Catarroja completely shattered.

“We opened the news of the night with those images. They were brutal. Spectacular. We would have paid for those images whatever it was, and the woman only asked us for a little water, toilet paper and a cold. Was stand”.

More than 300 personas participated in the informative coverage of the Dana from to Punt. The writer, despite physical and emotional wear, they turned to their work. Staff of the Technology team He volunteered to move to the headquarters of the Radiotelevisión to help in coverage or respond to possible technical eventualities.

An unprecedented decision was also made: starting from the first minute a human and technical collaboration Among the teams of informative and programs. In Esteve's words: “With the general direction, we decided that we were going to jump the law which prevented external producers from participating in the news of the house. The emergency justifies that all the teams of the news were available to the programs and vice versa. ”The technical resources were also made available to this coverage. The team led by Añó shared the backpacks from to punt With the Magazines, "directly stopping encoders and decoders", own and others, to "duplicate or increase image capture for those magazines."

"The management of this dana that's it judicialized, and will most likely end up in a Great judgment of what happened that day. And obviously one of the documentary evidence will be the recordings and emissions of à tip”. – Esteve

The hundreds of hours of content related to the DANA on October 29 are testimony of the effort of a radiotelevisión willing to fulfill a public service work, and evidence of some political decisions that justice will say if they have been direct consequence of the loss of 224 Lives. “The management of this DANA is already prosecuted, and will most likely end up in a Great judgment of what happened that day. And obviously one of the documentary evidence They will be the recordings and emissions of à Punt, ”explains Esteve.

Today, the news of à Punt continue to move a return to a fictitious normality. The wounds are still open in traces that remain in streets and homes. Also in the absence. “We have to turn page, count other contents. (…) We were the first to arrive, but we also want to be the last to leave. These people, two months later, still have the garages full of mud, car mountains that set fire and, in addition, they do not arrive the aid. (…) We will be and we will go to those peoples, Tomorrow, last and all times that are missing”, Says the person in charge of news.

"There is a a certain consensus level social that, at least us, Yes, we have lived up to the Dana coverage”. – Esteve.

The usefulness of regional television as a public service has been revealed with an informative coverage completed, they say Esteve, with "informative independence, without interference and, in addition, without falling into sensationalisms"." We have not done anything extraordinary, but what was expected of us. We are very proud and in recent days everything is being thanks and recognition, ”he says, trusting that his work has served to demonstrate the value of à tip for all Valencian citizenship:“ If our work has served to have a part of the society that society that connect or reconnect With his public media, he welcome. There is a certain social consensus that, at least we, Yes, we have lived up to the Dana coverage”.

An article by Sergio Julián Gómez
Cover photo: Octavio Alcaraz

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