Spanish Government Gives Disaster Zone Status For Areas Hit By Storm - Finance Minister

Spanish Government Gives Disaster Zone Status for Areas Hit by Storm - Finance Minister

The Spanish government has given disaster zone status to regions hit by storm Filomena, including the central community of Madrid, Spanish Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero said on Tuesday

MADRID (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2021) The Spanish government has given disaster zone status to regions hit by storm Filomena, including the central community of Madrid, Spanish Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero said on Tuesday.

"We have declared the regions that were seriously damaged due to the emergency situation ... disaster zones after storm Filomena, [including] Asturias, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia, Aragon, Madrid, La Rioja and Navarre," Montero said at a press conference held after a cabinet meeting.

The minister added that this decision would allow the government to allocate compensations to the citizens affected by the storm, but the cabinet was yet to assess the amount of damage caused by the disaster.

According to Montero, compensation will be paid to families of people who died in the storm or to those who sustained injuries. The government would also compensate for damaged private property and cover 50 percent of the expenses that local authorities faced in mitigating the disaster's consequences.

In early January, Spain was hit by storm Filomena, which brought the heaviest snowfall that the country had seen since 1971. The natural disaster inflicted almost 1.4 billion Euros ($1.69 billion) in material damage in Madrid alone, according to the capital's authorities.