The flood that devastated the province of Valencia due to the dana more than two months ago has caused the residents of Paiporta to be surprised. Dozens of people affected have discovered with surprise under the pavements of several houses shelters from the Spanish Civil War that remained hidden. Given this discovery, specialists advise making a catalog and emphasize the convenience of carrying out structural evaluations, in order to guarantee safety, and analyze, on the other hand, the cultural and historical aspect.
After the ravine that impacted a large part of the province of Valencia, some houses in the old town of Paiporta, located in the ‘ground zero’ of the tragedy, the neighbors have found wells and shelters built during the Civil War and that could connect via underground the Ciutat Vella of the municipality.
This is the case of the central streets Dr. Cajal of the Holy Rock. “The dana lifted the ground upwards when everything happened,” some neighbors told Europa Press Television, saying that in some cases “they knew the shelters were there,” but they had them “covered.”
Now, when it is discovered, “architects have come to analyze” these vestiges, say the inhabitants, who urge the City Council to contact them as soon as possible and to act quickly.
For his part, the director of the University Institute of Heritage Restoration of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV)Francisco Juan, points out that, although for most it has been a surprise, “reading and investigating more, it seems that there was news in Paiporta, especially from the older generations, of the existence of these galleries, of the time of war, even having used them in childhood.
The expert draws attention to two derivatives of the find. First of all, “the purely structural.” “Evidently, we must evaluate what effect this may have on the structures. The buildings are located on the ground and, in some cases, it would be necessary to study whether it could be generating some type of effect, and the fact that there had been a flood and it had been flooded with watermay have affected the structure.” Therefore, he stressed, “the first study, the safety one, is the most imminent study.”
In addition, there is a cultural component, since, today, all the assets linked to the Civil War “are being valued because there is an interest, they are part of a memory, of a historical episode of the country.”
And he added, in statements a Europa Press TVthat, given that knowledge about these shelters is “vague and there are few studies”, it would be a good idea to prepare an inventory, that is, “a record of all of them, see what condition they are in, what dimensions they have and if there are any with ease of access to be able to museum them or put them into value”.
He Expert warns that the work is not fast as there is a significant number of properties affected and understands that the neighbors are impatient for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible. In that sense, he recalled the offer of institutions and entities, such as the universities themselves, to collaborate to the extent of their possibilities.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
