San Jaime and Santa Ana Church, the prime church can at last breathe a sigh of relief. Their renovation has been approved by the ministries on local, regional and even national levels. The church is also called as the Iglesia del Virgen del Sufragio.

Since 2004, two aspects have been renovated and work is on for the last and outer face of the religious institution. The starting date has not been finalized. Negotiations for the permits and other accords would be secured with concerned people only after the final official assent.

The latest phase, set to cost 320,000 euros, will involve the outer look and the building of a bell tower to let the system of lighting station sink in. Luis Lopez and Manuel Agüera, the parish priest and the councilor respectively, are of the same opinion, “This will ensure the building can be seen at night from all points of the compass.”

Promise

The talks for the deal have been helped by the city council of Benidorm. The recession and the resultant lowering of the revenue granted by the council has led to a lack in the amount required. But the shortcomings have been negated by a signed guarantee from the Mayor Manuel Perez Fenoll, who has broken the promised 318,000 euros into three yearly parts of 106,000 euros each and allotted them. The different individual groups, festival committees and clubs (peñas) within the bishopry have assembled to allow for budget additions.

The class of the building that houses the San Jaime and Santa Ana church is encapsulated in the emotion that it has survived the ravage of skyscrapers very well. The completion of the church took 40 years from 1940 to 1980. Later, the church was devoted to the Virgin of Suffrage, believed to be on a floating fishing boat.

The building scraped unscathed through both the attacks: bombs in ‘Peninsular War’ in 1812 and Spanish Civil War in 1936. The people in Benidorm are related to the elegant church more with heart than head. The dwellers use the structure as marriage building and various sacred occasions and fetes. The footfalls at the church cross 15,000 during peak summer.

Nearly 14000 people had to run for their lives in a bizarre fire incident that occurred due to the collapse of an electric pylon. It engulfed La Nucia at 0930 hours on Saturday.
Costera and Vall d’ALbaida in Valencia too saw an infusion of army personnel out to brave the forest fires.

The mammoth blaze shook 14,000 people belonging to different communities who had to be cleared off their premises in La Nucía, Benidorm, Finestrat, Polop de la Marina and Alfaz del Pi, just as the flames emerged at 0920 in the El Copet area, confirmed Bernabé Cano, the Mayor of La Nucía, Bernabé Cano to Europa Press. It was an electric pylon which is believed to be the real cause of the fire abetted by strong wind.

The municipal refuges, such as Sports Centre and Casa de la Cultura sheltered them in La Nucía. These centers are providing 24*7 services.

The main buildings to be emptied were the Terra Natura and Terra Mítica theme parks and Villaitana hotels in Benidorm. Butane gas deposits and petrol stations are under heavy use by the firemen at work.

The rescue personnel are all around in good number, with 500 firefighters getting assistance from 60 Guardia Civil and 40 National Police. Alongside are the 171 military men from the Military Emergency Units in Zaragoza and Cuenca and fire fighting experts from Valencia and Madrid.

Whenever weather permits, the Canadair planes, three in number, and a Kamov helicopter will get in motion. Snarling winds at 120 km/hr negated any air help on Saturday. Five houses have been casualties but thankfully, the people are all unscathed according to reports.

There was 10 degree escalation in temperature brought forth by 100 km/hr winds in Alicante substituting the frigidity of past week with the tropical temperatures from the Canaries.

There has been a forest fire also at Genovés in Valencia, eliciting rapid action by UME emergency units in Costera and la Vall d’Albaida.

Even though 20 pylons have been thrust down into ground by the wind wheel of 200 km/hr, Power Company REE has confidently stated no inconvenience in national power distribution. The northern parts may however be under the effect at least till the winds die down.

There are regular reports on the dual fire by the Ministers for Defence, Environment and Industry to the Prime Minister.