The Secretary of Citizen Liaison of Chubut, Laura Mirantes, referred to the different actions framed in the operations against the storm of snowfall that has affected a large part of the south of the province.
Likewise, the official stated that many people who ended up stranded “knew that they did not have to leave, some even used shortcuts and roadblocks but had to be helped some time later,” criticizing “the companies that, having sent them a communication with several days of communication and asking them to please stop selling tickets, they continued doing so.
ASSISTANCE FOR THE STRANDED
In dialogue with FM EL CHUBUT, the official said that “on Wednesday we arrived at Comodoro Rivadavia in the early hours of the morning, accompanied by the Minister of Security Héctor Iturrioz, the Chief of Police Andrés García, the Undersecretary of Citizen Protection Eduardo Pérez and, in my case, to coordinate based on the guidelines of the Secretariat given by the Governor.
Likewise, he maintained that “in the first instance, we assist all trucks, small and intermediate vehicles on Route 3; “All the people were assisted with the supplies that Minister Elba Willhuber, from the Ministry of Human Development, was able to provide us immediately.”
The supplies were “blankets so they could warm themselves, and on the other hand all dry food,” he described, adding to this that “we did not have exact numbers of how many people there were, but we did know, from the videos that were being uploaded to the networks , that there were older adults, stranded families, people with different types of pathologies, so we were able to take them out and accompany them through a caravan, to the northern module of Comodoro Rivadavia, which was satisfactory, as a result of all the joint effort what was done by the team, both from the Nation, by the Minister (of Defense, Luis) Petri, who made the National Army corps available, and the Gendarmerie, Police, who had been doing very important work with the Provincial Road Safety Agency as a guide and controller regarding income.
COORDINATED WORK
Likewise, Mirantes acknowledged that “it cost us a lot, due to the fact that we had between one and a half and two meters of snow; At that moment, the fact that we had the white wind, which continued to move, did not work in our favor either; “It was quite hard work, and a very important experience for the entire team.”
Regarding the latter, the Secretary of Citizen Liaison referred to “the other side of reality: the trucks, which were around 50. On the one hand we had several in the direction from Garayalde to Comodoro, and on the other, from the Module North to Trelew; They were also assisted on Friday, before returning to Trelew, so that we could join the Trelew-Rawson contingency with the arrival of the buses that came in fives and sixes; “They stayed in the terminals, but there the State was also present to house them and take care of feeding us the four meals that correspond.”
«THEY WERE CONTINUED SELLING TICKETS»
On the other hand, the official warned: “There was confusion and also a low level of solidarity on the part of the companies that continued selling tickets to the south, taking into account this meteorological characteristic. Although they were asked by the Ministry of Transportation of the province, there was a communication and we repeatedly requested that they please not sell more tickets, they continued to do so and that is why people continued to be received.
Along the same lines, Mirantes stated that “we couldn’t tell the people who were already on the way not to go down to the terminal, not to stay; some passengers had to come to their destination and others, obviously, had to continue; and that continuity implied accommodation, food, families came, many little ones.
«However», he continued, «we worked in a very organized manner, both with the Municipality of Trelew and with the Municipality of Rawson, and Gaiman, which housed around a hundred people; The truth is that it was a very important team effort with the municipalities, who were ready so that this could be organized.
In the case of Comodoro Rivadavia, Mirantes pointed out that the city “continued to receive people ‘as if nothing had happened’, and also immediate assistance with the entire team coordinated from the Municipality with Mayor Othar; The company has really forgotten that there are joint responsibilities, because you cannot send people knowing about the press release that we had made a week in advance. And he added: «There is also one’s responsibility. That is to say, if you know that the weather is difficult, you cannot get the ticket.
For this reason, in the press conference that was held with the Governor, it was collaboratively requested that they not travel, that they stay at home, that they wait for the storm to end, because, as you well know, the national weather reports “They are addressed every four hours and that is what we have been reporting.”
SHORTCUTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Regarding the situation in the south during the operations to rescue those stranded, Mirantes explained: “There were several mistakes, people who were stranded for more than 48 hours, without water or food, and not because one wanted to, but because clearly, in part, this was unknown because they left; What’s more, there were people who even made shortcuts, roadblocks and who were also stranded and in that case police personnel had to go to their aid, knowing that they had been told not to go out.
So, I believe that there is responsibility on both sides, not only on one who leaves without caring about the consequences, which causes us to do double the work because we have to take priority over life, and on the other hand, these circumstances of companies that do not They have not measured any type of inconvenience, what we have been asking for is that long-distance buses do not leave. Another element to take into account is communications, which are weakened or become impossible, for example, at the cell phone level.
In this sense, he specified that “in some places we had communication with Claro, in other instances with Movistar. The head of Provincial Roads, Hermán Tórtola, accompanied from the first moment and was redirecting all the machines so that they could go out in support, without failing to mention the important work that the drivers did; “This entire communication channel was done with satellite telephony, because otherwise it was impossible, paying attention to what the weather situation was like.”
