Solidarity with the evicted overflows the palm: "I was surprised so much help from the peninsula"

The Sports Pavilion of Los Llanos de Aridane was, this Thursday morning, a coming and going of vans loaded with bags of clothing, food and all kinds of belonging.A swarm of volunteers dressed in yellow bibs approached the vehicles and loaded all the packages inwards.

At the door next door, a queue of people, all evacuated from the areas affected by the volcano, were waiting to be interviewed by social services technicians and be able to collect what they needed.Dramatic scenes happen.Neighbors who receive the news that their home has been buried and assume, at that time, who can never return to their most recent past.

"The affected area is a rural area where we all know each other and see neighbors, to older ones who have lost their orchards, their houses, all their belongings ... It is not easy," says Delsi Concepción, Social Services Coordinator of the City Council of the City Council of theLlanos and, herself, also evicted from her home.

"But, then, we compensate for this feeling with the solidarity that is entering through the other door," he says, pointing out the entrance by which the material donated from this island, the rest of the archipelago and also of the Iberian Peninsula is incessantly discharged.

- Has this answer surprised you?

- I was surprised at the peninsular level.I considered that, well, we are an island, the island that always confuses us and this has pleasantly surprised me.

Once the doors are transferred, a huge pavilion is accessed where clothing has piled up for sizes and types in the seats.On the lower floor the food is saved and, on the stairs, the volunteers accompany the evacuees so that they can collect everything they need.

Elena País, Councilor for Equality of the City of Los Llanos de Aridane, coordinates several volunteers from the top of the stands.When he speaks, the fatigue that drags since Sunday becomes evident.

"Solidarity has been immense, it has overflowed us and the truth is that it excites us.They are gestures that come to us far, "says country."We no longer supply with the theme of second -hand clothing, we are asking to paralyze it.Now we need bed products, pillows, pajamas, towels ... ".

A woman climbs the stairs, between mountains of clothes, accompanied by a child.Both carry the yellow bib that distinguishes volunteers.

"Several trucks will arrive from Gran Canaria on Saturday morning and friends will come on Sunday to help as volunteers so I came here to see what a lot of merchandise is coming," says Eugenia, a Gran Canariathat has been living in the Llanos for 11 years."In the end I volunteered yesterday working until it closed and today I have returned with my son.Together we can help them to have less bad ".

Already outside, Chamaida, a young cargo a cardboard with milk briks and a black garbage bag."I come to give some toys for children and lactose -free food, which is what is needed now.Before I have come to donate clothes too, everything that is needed, because it is not just for now, it is all that comes after this ".

The Canarian government plans to acquire 280 homes

Solidarity is, indeed, serving to meet the basic needs of those evacuated in the first days, but volcanic activity does not seethat they have been homeless or without the possibility of accessing it.

The Regional Government is looking for the land owners of empty housing or close to being finished building on the island at the moment and calculates that you can acquire 280 homes to house the evacuated families.

It is estimated that there are about 300 homes within the evacuation perimeter, but only a first batch of 100 of which the Canarian government plans would be available for the month of October.

Until the rest can be acquired, we will have to continue resorting to emergency solutions such as the hotel that is staying from Thursday to 86 people in the town of Fuencaliente, south of the island.

Those who have lost everything

Back to the affected area, an enclosure has also been enabled in the pass.

Maria, 48, lives in Los Llanos and is working as a psychologist volunteer."I see that my neighbors need it and I will not stay at home watching TV", from this point, it has had to serve numerous families who do not know if their homes are still standing.

"Above all, what I have seen is that they need much listening, venting and telling their drama, which is not little, because they have been living many days of great tension and have repressed emotion and need to exploit and get all that pain, that angerFor uncertainty, "explains María.

One of those people is Carlos, 49, who reaches this point of solidarity help collection with his wife, his children and grandchildren.In total, a family of seven people who lost everything.

"We lived in the cracked mountain, 500 meters from the volcano.Our home ... I think it is not, "he says, still dressed in a shirt stained from working on bananas crops."Hopefully the volcano also does not take ours that are the banana trees, because it would already be the height.But we cannot do anything, resign ourselves to nature ".

On Sunday, after the eruption, Carlos and his family fled with their 13 dogs and their two goats and were temporarily welcomed by their brother.But the situation is not sustainable or in the short term: "For now we are there, then we don't know".