The Council of Ministers has agreed on Monday to declare Zone Severely Affected by a Civil Protection Emergency (ZAEPC) 28 comarcas damaged by various adverse weather phenomena and forest fires registered in the autonomous communities of Andalusia, Aragon, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Comunitat Valenciana, Illes Balears, Community of Madrid and Region of Murcia during this month of September.
Among these emergencies, the isolated depression in high levels (DANA) stands out, which caused persistent, widespread precipitation and in some points of extreme force since the early morning of September 2, which caused the death of eight people and numerous incidents in practically all the provinces of the affected autonomous communities.
The delegate of the Government of Spain in Castilla-La Mancha, Francisco Tierraseca, has highlighted “the rapid response” of the Executive presided over by Pedro Sánchez, which shows that “response times are increasingly shortened” and allows aid “to reach the people affected”.
The torrential rains also caused flooding in streets, basses, garages and roads, landslides, occasional power cuts and train traffic problems, as well as numerous damage to infrastructure and public and private goods, crops and farms, industrial estates and other productive facilities.
The decision of the Council of Ministers opens the way for those affected by these emergencies to apply for the aid intended to alleviate personal injury; material damage to housing and belongings and industrial, commercial and other services establishments; as well as those corresponding to local corporations whose territories were affected by the rains.
In this regard, Tierraseca has stressed that this Declaration “will allow the municipalities in Castilla-La Mancha affected by the DANA of the first days of September” to start processing their aid files. “From the Government Delegation, and from the various subdelegations,” he said, “we are going to channel that information through the municipalities,” since the administrations are “closest” to the people affected.
This aid is granted with support in the principle of interterritorial solidarity and on a subsidiary basis, to complement the actions that, in the exercise of their competences, are entrusted to the autonomous communities.
DIRECT AID
The recovery measures provided for in this agreement, provided for in Royal Decree 307/2005, of 18 March, and the execution of which is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, are the following:
• Aid for death or for absolute and permanent disability: 18,000 euros.
• Aid for destruction or damage to basic necessities: the cost with a limit of 2,580 euros.
• Aid for total destruction of the habitual dwelling: the cost of the damage, with a maximum of 15,120 euros.
• Aid for damage to the structure of the habitual dwelling: 50% of the damage, with a maximum of 10.320 euros.
• Aid for other damages in the usual house: 50% of the damages, with a maximum of 5,160 euros.
• Aid for damages to common elements of a community of owners: 50% of the damages, with a maximum of 9,224 euros.
• Aid to natural or legal persons who have carried out personal and property benefits: the total amount of the expenses.
• Aid for holders of industrial, commercial and service establishments, including agricultural, sea-fishing and tourist establishments: up to 9,224 euros.
• Aid to local corporations for expenses derived from unpostponable actions: between 50% and 100%, depending on the case.
• The agreement also provides for the possibility of approval of an exemption from the Autonomous Agency Central Traffic Headquarters fees for duplicates of circulation or driving licences, as well as casualty vehicle casualties.
OTHER MEASURES
• Tax benefits: the Ministry of Finance and Public Service will specify the exemption in the Real Property Tax quota and the reduction in the Economic Activities Tax quota that correspond to the recipients of this aid, which as usual will be exempt from the Income Tax of Natural Persons the aid for personal damages.
• Labor and Social Security Measures: the ministries of Labor and Social Economy and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration may develop labor and Social Security measures such as bonuses and exemptions from Social Security quotas.
• Aid to local corporations: the Ministry of Territorial Policy will grant aid, up to 50%, to projects implemented by local entities to repair municipal infrastructure, facilities and equipment.
• Damage to public infrastructures and the public domain: the remaining ministries, within the scope of their competences, may declare a special area of action, as well as the emergency of the works, to repair the damage caused to infrastructures of public ownership or in the public domain.
• It is important to point out that the aid for damage to agricultural holdings is not included in this agreement, since they are covered by an own insurance system, such as the Combined Agricultural Insurance System, which has been progressively extended, to cover, even, infrastructures, and which allows to meet the needs of the agricultural sector in the face of this type of natural disaster. What the agreement does foresee is the reduction of the IRPF modules for those affected by this type of damage.