The Fallas committees affected by the DANA will receive €138,000 from the SOM project

The various solidarity initiatives are joined by a contribution of €50,000 from the Horta Sud Foundation and another €50,000 raised at the Amstel Germanor Fest

24 July 2025 – Almost nine months after the DANA, the Fallas committees of l’Horta Sud still need resources to resume their activities normally. The Fallas were among the associations most affected by this catastrophe, both in l’Horta Sud and in other affected regions (Ribera Alta, Foia de Bunyol, and Utiel-Requena). According to the diagnosis of the damage to the associative network that we conducted, of the 74 affected Fallas, almost 75% suffered severe or extreme damage, exceeding €2.8 million in declared losses. Based on this information, the SOM project has managed to mobilise a total of €138,000 to be distributed among 70 committees proportionally to the level of declared damage following the catastrophe.

The project has included activities promoted by the Fallas community itself, by associations from other fields, and by business initiatives and has been promoted by the Horta Sud Regional Fallas Board, the Torrent Local Fallas Board, the Mislata Fallas Group, the Túria Fallas Group (Quart de Poblet-Xirivella), the Convent Jerusalem Falla, the Pòlvora a la Vespra Collective, the Horta Sud Foundation, and the Horta Sud Commonwealth. Official partners include the newspaper Levante-EMV and Amstel.

As for the funds raised, the llibret campaign collected donations amounting to €15,000 (contributed by, among others, the Local Fallas Boards of Sagunt, Tavernes de la Valldigna, Alzira, and Benicarló, in addition to those from l’Horta Sud, Algemesí, and Utiel). The clothing exhibitions of the Avinguda de Torrent Falla and the Embut Falla of Benicarló together exceeded €7,600; the Botànic Fallas Group contributed €1,600; the concert promoted by the Torrent Local Fallas Board with the youth bands of the Unió Musical and the Catholic Circle raised another €1,400; the Fallas Cronista Vicent Beguer (Torrent) and Benicarló organised actions that raised a total of another €1,000; the Dansà en Falles of the Mont de Pietat committee (Xirivella) brought in €360; and the solidarity ‘xocolatà’ of the Cor de Vila Association (Alaquàs) contributed €450, among other initiatives. These initiatives were complemented by the €50,000 contributed by the Horta Sud Foundation through matchfunding, as announced at the beginning of the project.

Other solidarity actions

Regarding external collaborations, the newspaper Levante-EMV launched an extraordinary fundraiser through its Balcó Faller initiative, collecting €10,000.

The Germanor Fest festival, organised by Amstel in Torrent in March, also contributed €50,000 to the initiative. Furthermore, Amstel will continue to mobilise resources for the recovery of the Fallas until the end of the year, when it will donate the proceeds from streams of the song “Mi tierra, hecho de germanor”, a solidarity version of the Nino Bravo song performed by Varry Brava, La Casa Azul, and L’Habitació Roja.

These €138,000 will now be distributed among the 70 committees based on the damage they declared, through the specific donation portal we created. This way, the committees have already been assigned donations ranging from €200 to €6,000, depending on their damage. A dozen committees will receive more than €5,000. Click here to see the amount raised for each committee.

The promoting organisations have highlighted that “as already proven during the pandemic, the Fallas were on the front line from the very first hours after the DANA.” For this reason, they emphasise, “it is of great importance to preserve the Fallas associative network, as a social and economic engine of the Valencian territory,” underlining its cohesive and community-building role in neighbourhoods and towns. All of them also agreed that, despite the time elapsed since the catastrophe, needs are still present throughout the affected territory, “including social and emotional aspects.” Finally, the promoting entities stressed “the solidarity DNA of the Fallas world and the Valencian society” and that “the DANA has further strengthened the sense of community among the Fallas; a sense that must be preserved.”