An image floods Instagram on Wednesday night: "How can I help La Palma from Madrid?"
"You need clothes, food, diapers, blankets, masks ...", the publication continues.
Just 24 hours later, the house of Miguel Navarro, a Canarian student living in Madrid, is transformed into a makeshift store of essential goods bound for La Palma.
The young man, barely 20 years old, lives in a student apartment in Getafe.
On the night from Sunday to Monday, Navarro's WhatsApp becomes an incessant stream of messages.
He and his friends from La Palma comment every minute on the eruption of the volcano.
"We had to do something, but we didn't know how. The members of the group were in Madrid, and we didn't know what to do," he says.
However, doubts would dissipate on Wednesday afternoon, when the volcano entered its most explosive phase.
The chain of messages becomes in a few moments a group of volunteers of around thirty people and which currently has 82 members.
The group, baptized as La Palma Eruption Help, is formed against the clock and improvised, says Navarro.
"We started by offering ourselves to make basic purchases, but we realized that something more was necessary. We needed more help, but also a way to get all the goods to La Palma. That is how we started with everything. We contacted companies of all kinds : moving, transport, airlines, parcel services ... "he assures.
In just a few hours, the young Canaries set up a network of points of donation and collection of goods with one goal: to send them to La Palma as soon as possible.
Donation collection points 📍 pic.twitter.com/FNVXuAGOOE
- Help Eruption La Palma (@Ayudaerupcion) September 23, 2021
Through social media mobilization, thousands of people find out about these makeshift collection sites for basic goods.
The first of these points is Navarro's house, in Getafe, an apartment where three students live in 90 square meters.
Navarro and his colleagues stored the first products in their rooms, but they soon realized that they would not fit everything.
"It was incredible. In just a few hours people began to arrive from all over with a lot of things. We had to start storing everything on the street because it did not fit in my room. Many onlookers who stayed to look, began to throw us one In a short time we were already 30 people. A company left us trucks to load everything. The City Council also gave us another, "he says.
The National Police also collaborated with the youth group, Miguel says, with the transfer of one of its warehouses. "At first they had to come to our street to control traffic. Imagine! Incessant drips of people bringing things, trucks parked at the door of my house, neighbors and onlookers throwing a cable ... well, it was all incredible" says Navarro.
The successful collection of Getafe was the first of those scheduled for the next few days. Marta Gómez, 22 years old and originally from the municipality of El Paso, one of the first affected by the eruption, is another of the young women who, together with Navarro, started the platform. "After seeing the images of the volcano and talking with our families, we realized that we had to do something," he says. "Many canaries got in touch. Not all of us knew each other. Some live in the north of Madrid, others in the capital, others in smaller municipalities ... but we all have something in common: to feel closely the misfortune of our families, even though we are so far away, "says the student.
To meet all the needs, they have called other collections for the next few days and in different locations.
Central Madrid, Aranjuez, Vallecas, San Agustín de Guadalix and Alcalá de Henares are the locations chosen so that whoever wishes, contribute their bit to help those affected by the eruption, says Gómez.
"At the moment we are overwhelmed," says the young woman.
"We did not expect that so many people would participate. It has had a brutal reception. In a matter of hours we have covered more than we expected, to the point that, for example, the Canarian authorities have asked us not to collect more clothes", Gómez points out, amazed.
The complex collection and storage process is compounded by a great complication: taking the goods to an overflowing island where, in recent days, the authorities have decreed airspace closures due to volcanic ash. Despite this, several organizations have done their part to help young Canaries to bring all these goods to the archipelago. "Companies such as Correos or SEUR have contacted us, also airlines such as Iberia. Entities such as Solidarity Cooperation have proposed to put the airplanes. Even a Canarian moving company has offered us the maritime transport of everything," says the young woman.
Among the entities that have contacted the platform is the Casa de Canarias, an institution that, since 1953, has assisted islanders living in Madrid.
The organization, which offered its logistics centers to the platform Ayuda Erupción La Palma, has received hundreds of calls in recent days to collaborate, as assured by its president, Roberto Miño.
"We are registering shipping records. Despite the fact that this has happened during the week, when people work, thousands of objects have arrived. We are negotiating with the authorities to be able to send things, preferably before Monday," says Miño.
The waves of aid have brought relief to the island authorities, who point to the immense expressions of solidarity received in recent days.
Lorena Hernández, Councilor for Security and Deputy Mayor of Los Llanos, assures that so many shipments have served to supply the most urgent needs of the neighbors.
If you want to help those affected by the volcano on the island of La Palma, we leave you the different donation codes that have been activated. # ErupciónLaPalma #DonaConBizum pic.twitter.com/fPi4LHCbq5
- Bizum (@Bizum_ES) September 22, 2021
"We are saturated. It has been an overflow of solidarity that has reached us. We have to thank everyone millions of times for what they have done for us. We are trying to distribute everything among the families so that little by little they can cover their needs ", assures Hernández.
The explosion of empathy has reached incredible heights, according to Hernández, who asks for another type of help.
If in the first moment clothes and food were essential, now the urgent thing is to find funds for the families.
"We have opened checking accounts because everything that is essential is already covered. We have full warehouses. We need money to make donations to the families. We hope to have flats for the families in the next few days. Therefore, with that money it can be done against the expenses of the families. Food and clothing are covered, but when we get flats, these families will need furniture, appliances and all kinds of household goods, "he says.
However, any kind of help is welcome, emphasizes the councilor. And for this reason, young people like Marta Gómez are looking for patches to care for those affected. As he works on the next shipment of goods, he remembers his family in El Paso, which is one of the nearly 6,000 evacuated by the eruption. "Many families have lost everything and we cannot stay still. The volcano area is an agrarian area and this eruption has destroyed the economy of thousands of people," he laments.
Now, Gómez only asks one thing: "We need people to understand what is happening. This is not a show, it is a disgrace. If ports, roads or hotels are already collapsed to help evacuees, this is not the time to let tourists come. We are on the verge of collapse. Behind the images are people, families. This is not a joke, it is an absolute disaster. "
