• Electricity, water, gas virtually reestablished • More than one million people affected

BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS
SOMETHING caught the attention of the people, used to confronting heavy tropical storms. That was when Dr. José Rubiera, head of the Forecasting Department at the Institute of Meteorology, qualified Hurricane Charley, about to enter Cuba via the southwestern coast of Habana province, as a very bad phenomenon.

Although it passed over the island’s territory more quickly than others of its kind, it concentrated a terrible force around the eye of the storm, according to President Fidel Castro, who went to the Meteorological Institute at dawn on August 13 to obtain details of the hurricane.

The forecast was confirmed shortly afterwards. The first gusts of the gales reaching more than 180 kilometers per hour that lashed Habana province made themselves felt at approximately 1:30 a.m. thus proving Rubiera right. During its voyage over the Caribbean Sea from the south of Jamaica the atmospheric phenomenon incremented its force and on leaving Cuba its winds exceeded 250 kilometers per hour in the Gulf of Mexico, where it hit Florida, causing 20 deaths, hundreds wounded and losses totaling billions of dollars.

In the rural areas that it traversed close to the Cuban beaches of Canimar and Cajío, which towns it destroyed, Charley brought down everything in its path, uprooting centennial trees, while some families whose houses were blown apart sought refuge under tables, beds and cookers or inside closets and cupboards, not daring to take a step given the fury of the winds. In the approximately two hours of its crossing the narrowest part of the island, from the southwest of Habana province to the northwest of the country’s capital, the damage was enormous, despite measures adopted under the directions of the Civil Defense, which included securing homes, centers of production and services, the removal of vessels to safe places, and the evacuation of thousands of people living in vulnerable areas – mainly those exposed to sea, river, reservoir or lake flooding or as a consequence of the rains.

The force of the wind provoked damage to and the destruction of some 20,000 homes and other buildings, brought down thousands of wooden posts and cement and metal towers – many of them weighing 60 tons – and electrical transmission and distribution lines, paralyzing operations at the Máximo Gómez thermoelectric plant in Mariel, in the north of Habana province.

That situation resulted in an interruption of electricity, water and gas services for several days in a large section of Habana, City of Havana and Pinar del Río provinces. The unofficial calculation is that more than one million people were affected by the natural phenomenon, whose damage was gradually repaired throughout the following week and subsequently. Supplies of electricity, water and gas are virtually back to normal as a result of the labors of brigades of linesmen in the affected areas and from other provinces. Telephone services have been restored to some 12,000 users affected by the hurricane.

In parallel, brigades from Public Works with the population and workers from different enterprises collected more than 250,000 tons of rubble, thousands of felled trees in the streets and highways in the cities and towns hit by Charley.

On Saturday August 21 and 22 thousands of citizens convened by the Communist Party and mass organizations are to clear up the remains of the more than 6,300 trees brought down in City of Havana. Some 66,000 tons of citrus fruits were left on the ground in Habana province, other crops were lost, and more than 280 cattle milking sheds lost their roofs, although the herds were protected, and more than 3,000 agricultural installations were damaged, along with industrial constructions and those of other sectors.

Thanks to the measures adopted there were only five fatal victims: three due to collapsing structures, another from damage caused to his home by a fallen palm tree and one person drowned. The solidarity of the population was a very important factor in ensuring that nobody would be left without shelter under the lashing of the cyclone as some of the persons evacuated stayed in the homes of friends and neighbors living in stronger brick houses located in safe areas.

At the same time, the evacuation forces were on the alert to avoid families who did not wish to abandon their homes suffering grave consequences despite the danger they were running. That was the case in Surgidero de Batabanó, a few kilometers distant from the hurricane’s entry on the southern coast of Habana, where sea flooding threatened their lives, at which point they were finally transferred to a safe place.

“We have the resources to confront the hurricane damage,” announced Vice President Carlos Lage, who advocated them being distributed rapidly after needs were identified. And that was what happened with the initial strategy of restoring the basic public services, repairing homes and other buildings affected via the distribution of resources and guaranteeing the care of the population. In the first week 1,400 houses were repaired. One of the principal efforts is aimed at the planting a large area of short-cycle green and root vegetables in Habana province.

At the same time the constant labor of company and local brigades in municipalities damaged by the action of the hurricane made itself felt in terms of alleviating the situation. In the city of Pinar del Río, various technical teams set up zones of power to guarantee an electricity service to hospitals and food preparation centers. They also set up public televisions to keep residents informed on the works underway to restore the situation created by the storm. A similar installation was organized in the Pinar del Río José Martí station, which generated electricity for the towns of San Cristóbal and Candelaria, among others.

It has always been reiterated in Cuba that nobody will be left homeless in the face of natural disasters or those of any nature. That commitment is becoming a reality once again.