Alex Trelinski
INSURANCE payouts to people affected by the Valencia flood disaster have so far reached €741 million.
Payments under the umbrella of the Insurance Compensation Consortium have reached almost 30% of claimants- around 69,000 people out of a total of 234,000.
The figures were declared on Thursday by the Government delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabe, after she met with the reconstruction commissioner, Jose Maria Angel.
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Bernabe said payouts had been accelerated and that the Insurance Consortium had distributed €100 million since Tuesday.
“These are figures unknown in previous disasters and we are going to continue to improve,” she claimed.
“Of course we need to pay even faster if possible and we have all the machinery,” Bernabe stressed, pointing out that there are 2,000 experts from the Consortium ‘from all over the country’ working in the affected municipalities.
Asked about the state of the €16.6 billion payment promised by the national government, Bernabe said that aid is ear-marked for various sectors and moves ‘are already being developed which are related to the reconstruction and improvement of many of the infrastructures’.
“This aid has reached more than 76% of the people in SMEs and self-employed workers in Valencia province who suffered from damage” she stated.
“Help is reaching more than what we sometimes hear and that people should be aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe,” Bernabe added.
The Government delegate also pointed out that the national administration ‘is working directly with large companies to find the best way to provide aid’.
