Izquierdo has spoken at the CaixaForum València with a presentation entitled ‘Volcanic eruption in La Palma and reconstruction’. The Commissioner’s participation has made it possible to transfer to the international arena the experience accumulated by La Palma since the volcanic eruption started on September 19, 2021, as well as the actions developed during the emergency and in the various subsequent stages of recovery.
During his speech, the Commissioner outlined the dimensions of an emergency that lasted for 85 days and forced the evacuation of more than 7,000 people. The eruption affected more than 1,200 hectares, destroyed 1,300 homes and 73.8 kilometers of roads and urban roads, and caused the emission of 159 million cubic meters of lava.
The experience of La Palma is thus incorporated into a program of the OECD and the Ministry of Territorial Policy that specifically addresses the challenges of reconstruction after major disasters, from the recovery of infrastructure and housing and economic reactivation to the need to take advantage of the recovery processes to strengthen resilience in the face of future crises. The organization also highlights the importance of analyzing which actions have worked, which have not and which conditions have made the difference several years after an emergency.