More than two months after Storm Alex, which resulted in nine deaths, 11 missing, and material damage estimated at two billion euros, not to mention the moral damage suffered by the inhabitants of the valleys, every form of support is heartwarming. Associations and personalities have managed to collect nearly €50,000, which will be redistributed thoughtfully.
In this time of rare difficulty, these local initiatives are beneficial. Yesterday, the department received three checks resulting from different fundraisers organized to support the victims of Storm Alex. Deputy Eric Ciotti, president of the Finance Committee of the Alpes-Maritimes Department, expressed his warm thanks to the various donors: “With Charles Ange Ginésy, we are receiving significant donations for our affected valleys. I want to thank the associations of the Jewish community of Alpes-Maritimes and the FSJU, Rémi Ragnar, a firefighter at the Antibes station, once again demonstrating his immense solidarity with the population of our department, and the Antibes Rallye club for their donations.”
Among the organizers of these solidarity fundraisers is the CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France). “This contribution comes from each individual. These are not donations from the association but donations from the members of the associations collected. It is a solidarity that goes beyond the department because the social fund carried out a national fundraising,” said Jérôme Culioli, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France Southeast, accompanied by Franck Israel, President of the Regional Consistory of the Jewish Community of the Côte d’Azur and Corsica. In this manner, the CRIF collected the impressive sum of €23,500 in a few weeks (€15,000 from the FSJU and €8,500 from the CRIF in the department).
Another support of particular symbolic value is that of Instagrammer Rémi “Ragnar”, a professional firefighter for a decade in Antibes. In addition to the gesture, this highlights the heroic work of the firefighters, who carried out more than 1,600 interventions, and indirectly pays tribute to Commander Bruno Kohlhuber, who died in intervention, and also to Loïc Millo, still missing. “When I saw my colleagues return from interventions shocked by what they witnessed, it was evident to me to set something up,” added Rémi with great emotion. Through his sports challenge organized on social networks, the influencer collected €18,800.
Lastly, the world of motorsport also mobilized through the action of the Antibes Côte d’Azur rally. Given the dramatic circumstances, the organization had logically decided, considering the road damages, to cancel the 55th edition of this race, which was to take place from October 15 to 18. At that point, the ASA Antibes, which organizes the rally, decided to call for donations from competitors, raising €7,200. “We have a magnificent region that will come back to life because it is the human aspect that makes us always recover from disasters. I hope that in the wake of Storm Alex, in a few years, even though it will leave traces…, we will revive, and we will once again have beautiful years in our hinterland,” hopes Gilbert Giraud, president of the ASA Antibes.
Since the launch of the solidarity appeal, nearly two million euros have already been collected by the community, partly redistributed to the 189 affected businesses and 22 farmers who lost part or all of their operations. “There is what we give back, what we have seen, which is the visible part of the iceberg, and then all the psychological impact that will affect all the populations who lost a house, friends, a vehicle… There have been quite unlikely configurations that we could not have imagined, with a questioning throughout our valleys about the maintenance of rural populations attached to the Vésubie Valley, Roya,” adds the president of the Alpes-Maritimes Departmental Council, Charles-Ange Ginésy.
Now comes the time for major reconstruction projects, which in several months or years will allow residents to regain their previous lives.
