By Keith Adams BBC, on Spain's Galician coast

The people of Galicia are struggling to understand the impact that the massive oil spill will have on their lives.

The people will not come and there will be no money

Caf� owner Maria Carmen

As storms batter the region's western coast, the fishermen of Finisterre gather in caf�s and bars, hoping the wind can disperse the toxic cargo before it arrives in their normally bustling harbour.

They have been banned from fishing, but for how long?

Cigarettes and coffee are nervously, cheerlessly, consumed as rain crashes against the windows.

Galicians catch much of the fish served on Spanish tables, and without the industry the local economy will tumble.

Residents worry the arrival of the slick could herald the end of village life

Maria Carmen, 60, who has owned a small caf� in Cajon for 17 years, says simply: "The people will not come and there will be no money."

Tourists pay her wages, as well as the local community. She fears both will desert her.

"It is like... an atomic bomb!" she adds.

The beach across the square from her caf� has been covered with a silver-black film, and lashed by an oily surf.

We cannot walk here, we cannot surf here - it is not just money

Jesus, local resident

The rhythm of the sea is the heartbeat of Galicia, and its corruption has struck the community profoundly.

"We cannot walk here, we cannot surf here - it is not just money," says Jesus from Coruna. "It is terrible, terrible."

A teenage girl holds up a piece of paper she has used as a mop on an oily beach. "It's so heavy," she says.

"Today is my birthday," she adds without the glimmer of a smile.

These people seem more shocked than angry, but they have yet to absorb the many costs of this disaster.