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Lorca Earthquake : 2 Weeks on

Thu 26th May 2011

It is only two weeks ago today that the residents of Lorca were waking up to face the destruction that the two earthquakes left after striking in close succession. However, it seems that other national and international events have muscled the disaster away from the front pages of even the local press.

The nine fatalities are obviously undisputed, but little other information has been made available to the media.

How many are still homeless ?

Town hall officials have made a first inspection of all buildings in the Town and declared 165 of them, or 12% of the total, to be uninhabitable. 52% of all buildings have suffered some kind of damage. The total number of those unable to return home has been put at 11,000.

What is the national government doing to help them ?

The Government has received a Royal Decree to pass aid to those affected by the quake as quickly as possible - Those whose properties have been destroyed will be eligible to claim €106,000, whilst those whose homes suffered damage can claim €24,000, with a further €6,671 in assistance towards rent for 2 years. Last week central government made a statement saying how the rebuild would cost 70 Million Euros, however the Murcia Regional Government earlier this week spoke of the cost being 700 Million Euros.

How is the Local Government coping ?

Town Hall officials have constructed 35 temporary offices in various locations around the Town to handle applications and issue building licences so the necessary repairs can take place as quickly as possible. Earlier this week it was reported that 500 licences have already been issued, with almost 2'000 cases processed already. The Town's website has been flooded with hits - attracting up to 100 times its usual levels of traffic.

Who else is helping ?

The Spanish red cross, the military and other emergency services are no longer in the town, except for a very few personnel observing the 'clean up' process and it is largely the town hall themselves and private contractors involved in the day to day rebuilding of the town.

Real Madrid have visited the Town, along with local boy Pedro Leon who was born just a few miles down the road, to play a friendly game as a fundraiser for those affected by the quake.

Did the elections go ahead ?

Although there was talk of the elections being postponed until after the earthquake could be dealt with, both main parties agreed that it was in the best interest of the town to hold the elections as originally planned. The PP Mayor, Francisco Jódar Alonso, was re-elected taking 60% of the vote, with 25% going to the PSOE. 20,598 (35%) voters abstained.

We asked our regular contributor and Lorca resident, Josefina Campayo, how the residents of Lorca were coping and how she saw the future planning out for the Town : " The people of Lorca are very resilient ", She continued " It will take years to fully rebuild the town, but we will need help from the town hall, the (Regional and Central) Governments and from the Insurance companies. The most important thing is to get everybody accommodated and then we can try and get our lives back to normal."

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