I would like to dedicate a new blog to the terrible catastrophe that occurred in Valencia as a result of the storm of 29 October. I would also like to do so in memory of one of the deceased, Antonio Noblejas, a great businessman, entrepreneur and all-rounder, a humanist and a great person. He was the founder of the office of the audit firm Arthur Andersen, today Deloitte, in the Valencian Community, and general director of EDEM, the prestigious business school in Valencia. He was also the first to give me a job opportunity when I finished my studies. I was very sorry to hear of his death and I am sure that, from wherever he is, he will help the Valencian Community to overcome this tragedy. And that is what I want to focus on in this blog.
The Bamberg Foundation recently invited me to participate in a conference on innovation and the future of healthcare, together with relevant personalities from the healthcare world such as Raquel Yotti, commissioner of the PERTE for Vanguard Health, from the Ministry of Science and Innovation; Antonio Gómez Caamaño, Minister of Health of the Xunta de Galicia; and Juan Abarca Cidón, president, HM Hospitales and of the IDIS Foundation. Barely 14 days had passed since the hurricane and I wanted to begin my speech by saying that after the tragedy that occurred in my region, the really innovative thing would be for the administrations to come to an agreement on the relief work and the recovery of homes, businesses and infrastructures, regardless of ideologies and political interests. They should all put their best technical and human resources at the service of the affected citizens, collaborating in a coordinated and complementary manner, without duplication, without wasting time on reproaches. To take advantage of the strength of civil society, as we have seen in the weeks following the tragedy, with thousands of volunteers and examples of solidarity from all corners of Spain and the world, who have unanimously opted to put the focus of their aid and solidarity on Valencia.
If the administrations were also able to work together and take advantage of this transforming force of society, Spain would be unstoppable.
And from here on, I will not talk any more about the tragedy. We can do nothing to change the past. But we can help build the future. We must focus on reconstruction.
We have an enormous task ahead of us: to rebuild a prosperous community, at the forefront of Spain in many respects, with large investments by multinationals, record numbers of tourists and airport traffic, a prosperous, plural and innovative region, where a new, more open and tolerant vision of how to approach the global problems and challenges of society has taken root in the last year and a half. A community that was beginning to breathe an atmosphere of optimism, before the arrival of the DANA.
The challenge for administrations, businesses and society now is to rebuild not only the foundations that have been washed away, but also the dynamic and courageous entrepreneurial spirit that characterises Valencians. It is time to remember Kennedy’s famous words: «ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country». After the mourning, we have a duty to recover and thus help those affected.
Therefore, from a personal point of view, but also from a professional one, in addition to all the solidarity we are seeing on the streets in the affected municipalities, I make a general appeal to invite Spaniards and citizens from all over the world to come and spend a few days in Valencia, to consume Valencian products and to give the gift of solidarity this Christmas, helping the establishments of Valencia and its metropolitan area to recover. The economic impact of the DANA is many billions of euros, but the damage will be much greater if the catastrophe continues to affect businesses, hotels and services that did not suffer direct water damage.
This is a wonderful land and we can all make decisions in our day-to-day lives that will help rebuild. Many few add up to a great deal of help, not only materially but also in the sense of sadness and grief felt by a society that has suffered such a tragedy.
I will end now and I promise to return to focus on health issues in my next blog entry. This one, in addition to being dedicated to Antonio Noblejas, I hope it will reflect his entrepreneurial spirit. So that we can all contribute to making this traumatic moment as short as possible and so that Valencia can emerge from the mire with even more strength, if that is possible.
Together, let us rise up.