Author and photographer: Leah Pattem
Going through the archives of Valencia’s 1957 DANA, I realised I’d taken hauntingly similar photos just last week in Paiporta, so I decided to make direct comparisons by placing the images next to each other.
What this compilation demonstrates is that the same mistakes have been made twice. Predatory urban planning ignoring the limits of our planet, combined with institutional incompetence has led to the destruction of thousands of lives, again.
But the proximity of the floods to a major urban area where people have been able to continue with their lives has meant that thousands more volunteers are able to help this time, and some have a slightly different profile.
1957 photos © Ajuntament de València, Arxiu Históric
Listen to my BBC Sounds podcast ‘The Politics of Natural Disasters’ for The Long View programme is now available on BBC Sounds. Broadcasted at peak listener hour on BBC Radio 4, I joined Jonathan Freedland alongside Chris Courtney to compare Valencia’s recent calamitous floods with China’s Yangzi River Flood in 1931. The similarities are haunting, especially the blame games playing out in the aftermath of both floods.
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