Cuba: Hurricane Season 2008 Emergency Appeal No. MDRCU0001 Operations
Update No. 1
Period covered by this Ops Update: 8 September to 11 September, 2008.
Appeal target: 6,417,524 (USD 5,834,112 or EUR 3,973,699).
Appeal coverage: 2%;
The Cuban Red Cross encourages donors to support the relief operation
directly through the Federation's Appeal.
Appeal history:
- This Emergency Appeal was initially launched on a preliminary basis on
8 September, 2008 for CHF 6,417,524 (USD 5,834,112 or EUR 3,973,699) for
nine months to assist 40,000 beneficiaries.
- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 150,000 was initially
allocated from the Federation's Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to
support the National Society in Cuba with starting their early damage
and need assessments caused by Hurricane Gustav.
Summary: Hurricane Gustav hit the island of Cuba on 31 August, 2008 with
heavy winds and flooding. Gustav, considered to be the worst storm in 50
years, left thousands of people affected. Just as the Cuban Red Cross
(CRC) was responding to this emergency, hurricane Ike ravaged the island
as a category three hurricane. Ike came in through Punta Lucrecia on 7
September and crossed the island as a category one hurricane causing
additional damage to the island. Implementation of the planned
activities to achieve the objectives provided in the preliminary
emergency appeal has not yet started since hurricane Ike hit the island
before the CRC could start the relief operation. This Operations Update
no.1 provides information on damages and impact caused by Ike.
This operation is expected to be implemented over nine months, and will
therefore be completed by 1 June 2009; a Final Report will be made
available by 1 September 2009 (three months after the end of the operation).
The situation
On 31 August, Gustav struck the Isla de Juventud (Isle of Youth) as a
category four hurricane. It quickly moved to mainland Cuba where it hit
the province of Pinar del Rio. Gustav reached gusts up to 340 kilometres
an hour. After four hours, Gustav left the isle and headed towards the
Gulf of Mexico, leaving a path of destruction throughout Cuba.
Gustav caused damage in the housing, education, poultry, fishing,
electricity and telecommunication service sectors. The National
Electrical Union reports initial damage to infrastructure estimates in
the western region of Cuba and the Isla de Juventud to have a value of
15 million Cuban pesos (approximately CHF 12.5 million).
The Civil Defence Command implemented preventive measures before
Gustav's strike and no fatalities were reported. Over 61,000 people were
housed in shelters; an estimated 77 percent of those evacuated live in
the Pinar del Río, Isla de Juventud and in Havana provinces.
In Pinar del Rio, 75 to 80 percent of the population was affected, 55
educational centres sustained damage in addition to 19 health centres.
Over 25,900 metric tons of agricultural crops were lost, which might
affect the food security situation on the longer term.
Just as the government was coordinating relief activities to respond to
Gustav, hurricane Ike arrived adding additional difficulty to delivering
humanitarian aid. Ike came in through Punta Lucrecia on 7 September as a
category four hurricane, but as it went across the isle it downgraded to
a category one hurricane. Ike produced rain accumulation between 200 –
400 mm.
The most affected provinces are Pinar del Rio, Holguin and Las Tunas.
Other provinces that sustained damages were Guantanamo, Granma,
Camaguey, Ciego de Avila Havana and Cienfuegos.
According to damage reports provided by Cuba's National Television,
mainly all the damages are located on the eastern side of the country,
especially the coastal area. The communication, housing, electricity and
agricultural sectors were deeply affected. There are 2,500 shelters open
and 2,915,000 people have been evacuated which equals 20 percent of the
population. This means that the people are living in crowded
circumstances with inadequate sanitation conditions. 400,000 people are
still in state shelters. The government has mobilized 9,000 vehicles to
assist in relief activities, of which 1,400 are light and heavy
machinery for transportation and recovery. Currently, 160,000 people
appointed by the government are assisting in the response phase. There
are 63 dams on the isle, 35 of which are between the provinces of La
Tuna and Santiago. Many of these dams reached over 90 percent of their
capacity. Transportation is still limited in many areas of the country.
In total there are 320,000 affected houses due to the passage of Ike and
Gustav and 30,000 houses are destroyed according to the Ministry of
Housing. The majority of the provinces have no gas or electricity which
may lead to water and sanitation issues.
The agricultural sector was severely hit by Ike; many crops such as
tobacco, sugar, yucca, banana and coffee were destroyed. There is a
possibility this will lead to food insecurity in the country.
There are still many isolated communities and assessments have not been
completed since the country is still experiencing rain. Communication by
mobile or radio is down in many provinces and infrastructure such as
schools, commercial buildings and highways have received damages
throughout the country.
Damage assessments are still ongoing in all the affected provinces. It
is expected that the number of affected people will increase. More
information will be available shortly.
Full_Report (pdf* format - 275.1 Kbytes)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=EDIS-7JENYP&file=Full_Report.pdf
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7JENYP?OpenDocument
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