Valencia remains scarred

It is 5:40 p.m. and in Plaza San Agustín a group of about 15 residents stand with a mud-coloured banner with photos of the destruction that form the name of their neighbourhood: La Torre. One of them, with a very serious look on his face, raises his sign, also “stained” with mud, with both arms, which reads: 'We want justice'.

Another group of victims, further ahead, is joined by children, adults, several of whom are immigrants. They too have lost a father, a daughter, a grandfather, as shown in the photos they hold.

Thousands of people wait for the start. Some, visibly moved, watch from a distance the dignity of the families who today, 25 October 2025, are coming out again to demand accountability for the twelfth time. Twelve rallies in a single year, in memory of the 229 dead.

One man tells his friends that demonstrating is all well and good, but that he thinks something ‘bigger’ should be done.

While we wait, an ovation breaks out when tractors appear at the front of the demonstration. These are some of the dozens of tractors we saw for weeks in the autumn on our streets, pulling cars out of garages, transporting tonnes of mud to the outskirts, and removing all kinds of debris.

More applause when a group of firefighters arrive, wearing red overalls and fluorescent yellow helmets. Three of them cry as they look at the people paying tribute to them, as if not knowing what to say. Another carries his young child on his back in a backpack with the slogan: ‘Ni oblit, ni perdó’ (neither forget nor forgive). There is a mother breastfeeding her baby in the middle of the crowd, further on a couple of children in their pram play toy drums as if they were in music class.

At 7:30 p.m., night begins to fall over the centre of Valencia, and there are still hundreds who have not been able to get started at the starting point. I hear the journalist of the public broadcaster TVE say to the cameraman accompanying her: ‘The news will start, and this won't be over yet, eh?’

[destacate]What is clear is that the anger is still there. That taking to the streets is a way of channelling the frustration and pain that won't go away[/destacate]The blockade is massive because people from the surrounding streets are joining the march. Many, like me, end up leaving to cut through the streets full of tourists to the demonstration's destination, which will be in front of the cathedral. The authorities estimate the number of attendees at 50,000.

On my way home, I check to see what is being said on social media and in the press. On the Metro, I look through the photo gallery on my mobile phone and see a banner that reads: ‘Praying to God, and President Mazón killing’, a wordplay with a Spanish saying about praying and doing. I don't know what that protester wanted to communicate. But what is clear is that the anger is still there. That taking to the streets is a way of channelling the frustration and pain that won't go away. Valencia will not forget the Dana of 2024, just as it did not forget the Tous “pantanà” of 1982, or the floods of 1957.

[destacate]We will not forget. But hopefully, we will find a forgiveness that demands justice but also brings healing and even hope [/destacate]We will not forget. But hopefully, we will find forgiveness. A forgiveness that does not diminish the seriousness of what happened or the demand for justice where those who failed to live up to the responsibility entrusted to them were at fault. But a forgiveness that brings healing and even hope to the daily lives of those who cannot turn the page because those who were part of their lives are no longer there.

For those of us who have only suffered material losses and can see the progress (it is worth seeing this gallery of before and after), even though we are missing a lift, or the garage still has collapsed walls, we have a responsibility to look beyond ourselves. And to be close to those who, now that the first anniversary of the worst natural disaster in 100 years in Spain is approaching, will once again feel the anguish of the day when water and mud poured in everywhere.

I am reminded again of Jesus' promise in the Gospels of being a firm rock in times of torrents of destruction. I thank God for his church (in the singular), which was and still is responding to the pain.

Pray for the 75 villages affected in the Horta Sud region of Valencia these days. As a neighbour here in the village says: ‘Now comes a week that is going to be emotionally tough.’

Joel Forster, resident in Paiporta. Director of Evangelical Focus.

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