Spain experienced last Tuesday, October 29th, what is already considered the worst environmental catastrophe of the century in the country. The DANA, which devastated a large part of the Valencian Community, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia, has left – up to 3 p.m. on November 3 – a total of 214 victims, however, this is far from the final figure, as the search for missing persons is still continuing on the ground.
Now, several days after a tragedy that has made everything chaotic and confusing, misinformation is rampant in the paths of despair, and in the midst of the noise, social networks and media echo inaccurate messages. This is what has happened, for example, with the (unofficial) figure of 1,900 missing persons. But where does it come from and what is the truth in it?
It is not the same thing to be reported as to be missing
On November 1, ElDiario.es published a tweet in which it stated that it had exclusive access to the minutes of the crisis meeting between Mazón and Marlaska, stating that there were “1,900 provisionally missing”, although inside the news item they used “1,900 people reported missing” in 112. This is precisely where the difference lies.
This data corresponds to the reports received at the 112 emergency service, and does not necessarily mean that these people are still missing. The reality is that the person who has been reported as missing is still missing. may have turned up days later and not reported to the CECOPIwithout being registered as found. For this reason, it is impossible to know if there are duplicities or not and to affirm that there are 1900 missing persons.
In addition, the record accessed by the media initially mentions “2,500 people missing at 112”, and specifies that this figure was reduced by 600 people on Thursday, leaving a total of “1,900 people reported missing”. However, this figure refers only to the initial complaintsand does not specify how many of these persons have been located and how many remain unaccounted for.