The images of the lava flowing from the La Palma volcano have already been around the world several times and will remain forever in the collective imagination of a people, the canary, who has built his life on the picón (lapilli) of thousands of other previous eruptions.
Its tragic beauty has devastated the homes and businesses of more than half a thousand families and threatens another 1,600.
But it has also generated a wave of solidarity from families and professionals, from the island itself and from other parts of Spain, who work tirelessly to minimize the damage to the victims.
These are the stories of seven of them.
Davinia Viña, Adolfo Paíz and their daughter, Nilsa, in the space set up in Los Llanos for dogs.
They lived in Todoque (Los Llanos de Aridane) .Samuel Sánchez
Davinia Viña, injured: "If this is happening, it has to be for something better ... I don't know"
The twenty dogs collected from the evacuated or destroyed houses do not stop barking inside their cages. It is the makeshift shelter that the Benawara association has installed in a pavilion in Los Llanos de Aridane. Davinia Viña (39 years old) is there this morning, with her husband Adolfo Paíz (42 years old). A little further on, playing with one of his four dogs, runs Nelsi, their daughter (9 years old). The life of this family hangs by a thread, waiting to know if the lava will destroy Adolfo's birthplace, a home that the couple shared for 15 years. “It is very sad to be able to see your family's house destroyed, and to talk to neighbors who tell you: 'he already swallowed mine'. It's sad. Sad, sad, sad… “, Viñas recounted between sobs. Her house is still standing, but Davinia is suspicious. "There are many volcano days left."She worked in the Covalle banana cooperative, a few meters from her house. Him at a local construction company. "I have lost my secure job," says the woman.
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House-to-house map of the advance of the La Palma volcano: the lava reaches 570 buildings and threatens another 1,600
Living in a rain of ash
Viña, like all the residents of the area, remembers perfectly that noon on September 19.
“We were having lunch outside our house, and it was said that the lava was going to come out through Jedey [El Paso town], and suddenly at three o'clock everything went boom!
And my husband yelled: 'It blew up!'
Shortly before, she had begun to calculate the intervals of the tremors.
This is going to be like childbirth, I thought.
With each one of them the whole house shook.
"The windows, the showcases, the glasses ...".
Every so often, while speaking, Davinia Viñas breaks down in tears.
At that moment, she decided to prepare two changes of clothes, the house deeds, some bottles of water, some blankets, two pillows, some juices for the girl ... “It gave me a lot of feeling, I didn't take anything material, just food and clothes. .
I didn't take anything.
If the lava has to take it away, let it take it all "And he sentences:" If this is happening, it has to be for something better ... I don't know. "
And the tears prevent him from continuing with his story.
Jakob Schuster and his wife, Sandra, at a viewpoint in El Jesús, on La Palma.
Jakob Schuster, victim: "I am the luckiest man on the planet"
Jakob Schuster (49 years old) was born in Munich, although he has lived on the island for five years with his wife Sandra (47 years old), two dogs and three cats, according to his own presentation. During the last two years he has dedicated himself to renovating with "all his affection" a "tiny little town" in which he invested all his savings. The result was
Pueblo Munay
, a small rural complex in the El Paraíso neighborhood, an establishment rated 9.7 out of 10 on the Booking website. “We inaugurated it, and shortly after the pandemic broke out, we survived the covid because we were smart enough to put some money in the bank. And then the volcano came and took everything from us ”.
But Schuster strives to show his best face on the outskirts of the Severo Rodríguez sports center, in Los Llanos de Aridane. "I don't want to sound sad and overly complaining," he says. “Actually, I am the luckiest person on earth. I have been blessed: my father-in-law, who is seriously disabled, my wife, myself, two dogs and two of my three cats came out alive from this eruption ”. Therefore, he believes that he should "shout" his luck. "You don't usually survive when a volcano explodes just 600 meters behind your house." For a few days he stayed at the house of some friends in the municipality of Tijarafe. Now he resides in Tenerife.
At the time of the eruption, at 3:12 p.m. on Sunday, September 19, Schuster was in the courtyard of his house and had two guests staying at his hotel.
He assures that he had not received any notice.
"We were all completely surprised, it was thought that it was going to explode three kilometers away," he says.
“But I don't blame anyone and I don't hold a grudge against anyone.
There is only one culprit.
The volcano".
A few hours after this conversation, Schuster entered a hospital in prison with an anxiety attack.
Nayra Rodríguez, who has a PhD in Psychology and is treating those affected by the volcano, in the Canarian wrestling field of Los Llanos de Aridane.Samuel Sánchez
Nayra Rodríguez, psychologist: "The feeling of eviction is present on the island"
Nayra Rodríguez (39 years old) with a doctorate in Psychology and a palm tree from birth has “a divided heart between Los Llanos de Aridane and Tazacorte”, although a few years ago she settled in Tenerife, the island where she studied the degree. He left his job and moved to the island the same Sunday as the eruption. First to visit relatives. To help, later. Rodríguez is passionate about the world of emergency interventions, an area in which he has specialized. "I realized that my character is compatible with stressful situations." For this reason, he did not hesitate to immediately join the body of nine psychologists who spend their days at the Severo Rodríguez sports center, a facility that has become a logistics center for the reception and distribution of aid and care for the victims.
“In emergency cases,” he says, “there are people who react with great sadness, others who suffer an emotional blockage, or who may even deny the circumstances and prefer to live in a movie and pretend that things are not going well. them". What he has encountered the most, he explains, are situations of
shock
and anxiety attacks.
It highlights the character of the people of its island.
“We are like that, very close, very familiar.
Perhaps we were mistrustful at first, but when we gain confidence, the outsiders are family ”, he highlights.
“With regard to other emergencies or catastrophes that I have experienced, in which it is not possible to predict how people will react, I highlight the tranquility and solidarity that the palmeros have had.
And not only from the economic point of view ”, he explains.
“People have lost everything, not just home.
They have stopped having your reference.
Imagine being from one place and having nowhere to go.
The feeling of eviction is present on the island ”.
The fire officer Mario Beltrán at the headquarters of the Gran Canaria Firefighters Consortium, Quique curbelo
Mario Beltrán, firefighter: "We are going to fight and keep fighting until the end"
Mario Beltrán (55 years old) is the head of operations of the Gran Canaria Firefighters Consortium.
He leads the team of professionals who traveled from Gran Canaria to La Palma, the island where he disembarked at one in the morning on Monday (just eight hours after the eruption) with an already organized team made up of 18 people, four trucks and three vehicles. light.
"I had an operation already designed for different scenarios," he explains in a telephone conversation.
From the first moment, the body he leads gave up his hotel in Santa Cruz de La Palma and preferred to sleep in a pavilion "ten minutes from
ground zero
."
And he declares himself admired by the behavior of the palm trees.
“The island's population is patient, with incredible resilience, apart from having an exquisite education.
Plated for them, really ”.
They have not had to put out fires, as they had planned. "This volcano has taught us all a lesson: it caught us on the wrong foot." But they have had to dedicate themselves to many other tasks, such as saving animals, helping evacuations or even digging ditches to try to divert the laundry and prevent it from reaching the Plaza de Todoque and the town church. "In that square many couples met, and in that church they got married ...", he says excitedly. “That was a maneuver of uncertain result. But even if it was in vain [the church collapsed this Sunday], it was morally important, both for the team and for the citizens, to have tried to fight and move forward. We are going to fight and keep fighting until the end ”.
Like everyone else, Beltrán has been affected by what he has seen.
“For a firefighter, the main thing is the protection of people and property.
And for that reason, everything that happened affects emotionally ”, he relates.
"This Saturday we were in the middle of an inspection, and when you see all those houses that have a few hours left standing, and you know what it means for someone ... It's hard, very hard."
DVD 1071 (09-26-21) Inés Galindo, volcanologist, at the El Paso command center, in La Palma Photo Samuel SánchezSamuel Sánchez
Inés Galindo, volcanologist: "At least now I realize that everything I have done in my life serves to help"
The La Palma volcano has been a kind of debut for the volcanologist Inés Galindo (48 years old). This has been his premiere on the front line of an erupting volcano. "I had been to another in Costa Rica, but far away," he laughs. He was also in the underwater eruption on El Hierro ten years ago. "But that had nothing to do with this." With a degree in Geology from the University of Zaragoza and a doctorate from the University of Barcelona, she is fighting a battle to try to predict what behavior the natural phenomenon will have.
Her passion for geology and volcanoes has come to her since she was little, since she saw on television the effects of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano and the agony of little Omaira. “Although I am from Gran Canaria, Lanzarote has always been my favorite island”. By Timanfaya, of course. "Although on that island there have been other earlier eruptions much more beautiful." Besides geology, he confesses another passion. "I like eruptions, but I also like helping people who may be affected by them," she explains sitting on a bench outside the forward command post, on the slopes of the Caldera de Taburiente National Park.
“For me”, he explains, “this situation does not constitute a satisfaction, because you are seeing many people suffer who have lost everything.
But at least I realize that everything I have done throughout my life has helped many people. "
And he does not hide a somewhat bitter criticism: "The real problem is that there are few studies on historical eruptions, because it is an investigation that does not receive funding."
"It is downplayed because it is unlikely ... until there is an eruption."
That is why the last week has been a continuous learning process.
"I'm learning a lot every day, but you always have the
jolt
that nothing would have happened better."
Sergio Rodríguez, mayor of El Paso, on the soccer field of the municipality.
Samuel Sanchez
Sergio Rodríguez, Mayor of El Paso: "It hurts me especially because we are humble people"
The life of Sergio Rodríguez (52 years old) could have passed in very different directions.
Born in El Paso, he went to Tenerife to study English Philology.
He lived on the neighboring island for 22 years until he returned to his hometown.
"I have never finished going," he maintains, "I have always been linked to this land."
And when he returned he got into politics.
“My father was a city councilor when I was little.
It was another time, during the transition, so you can say that I have sucked him since I was little ”.
He has completed the halfway point of his second term representing the Canary Islands Coalition. He controls the Consistory with a comfortable absolute majority of nine of the 13 elected councilors, compared to the six councilors of his previous term. The last few months have been, "by far", the most difficult of his political career. "First the August fire, the second I suffer as mayor." A fire that ended up affecting 300 hectares of both El Paso and neighboring Los Llanos de Aridane, causing extensive damage. "And now this, which is unmatched with anything."
Rodríguez, however, assures that he has remained calm during one of the most difficult weeks of the small municipality (7,500 inhabitants).
“I am hyperactive.
If you see me in my day to day you see that I cannot stand still.
But, I don't know why, it is in these crisis situations that I act calmer ”.
With the support of his fellow citizens, he assures.
“We are an eminently rural municipality.
And the people here are fighters, workers, ”he explains on the local soccer field, which has served to centralize evictions and the distribution of food.
“That is why what is happening hurts so much.
Ours is not a profile of people with a lot of money, but that of humble people, who have made it for themselves.
Solidarity, pending the neighbor.
And of all the others.
Suffering people, with the callus done ”.
The chief inspector of the National Police, Pedro Cuesta.arturo rodríguez
Pedro Cuesta, Chief Inspector of the National Police: "This is an unknown situation for all of us"
The face of Chief Inspector Pedro Cuesta (41 years old) shows the tension of the moment. He is stationed at a junction on the LP-215 highway, surrounded by a dozen colleagues. It is Tuesday, September 21, two days have passed since the volcano erupted and the tenth Police Intervention Unit (UIP) that coordinates has to supervise that the residents of the already evicted towns of Puerto Naos and La Bombilla, in Los Llanos of Aridane, enter your houses for a few minutes and leave in an orderly manner. "We are having to face a situation unknown to all of us, both for the emergency services and for the National Police," he explains. "However, the population of La Palma is behaving in an exquisite way."
Cuesta was born in Fuenteálamo (Albacete), studied Law at the University of Valencia and graduated in Police Sciences from the University of Salamanca. To begin his career, however, he chose Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, an environment completely different from that of the Castilian plateau. “I was young and the Canary Islands was a place that I did not know. I came here to live a new experience and, finally, I settled here for a long time ”. In between, he passed through Pamplona before finally settling in Tenerife. "The Canary Islands offers quality of personal life and at a professional level there are challenges".
He arrived in La Palma on the same Sunday at 11 pm, by boat. And he plans to stay "
sine die
": "As long as we need it here, we don't move," he explains. His daily work at the head of the 41 members of the IPU on the island is to visit the advanced command post, coordinate with other services, especially with the 270 Civil Guard agents and supervise the points assigned to prevent access to forbidden points and zones.
And, above all, lend a hand to the neighbors.
"Unfortunately, in this body one has to witness dramatic and difficult situations on many occasions," he says.
“And one is excited to see that people rush to get the most basic, not to lose everything.
And it is even harder to inform these people that their house has been destroyed. "
And sentence: "We are people, even if we wear a uniform."