As Cuba scrambled to recover from two hurricanes, officials said the
government does not have the resources to deal with the crisis.
Posted on Sat, Sep. 13, 2008
BY LIZA GROSS
lgross@MiamiHerald.com
The Cuban government was scrambling Friday to salvage battered crops,
and many towns across the island remain inaccessible due to flooding
brought on by swollen rivers and overflowing reservoirs in the wake of
hurricanes Ike and Gustav.
Authorities also continued their frantic efforts to assess total damage
and direct aid to the neediest areas after admitting that the country's
reserves will not be enough to deal with the devastation. The death toll
is now at least seven.
Víctor Ramírez, President of Cuba's National Housing Institute, warned
in the TV program Mesa Redonda that ``we must be prudent in the
distribution of materials. The hurricane season is not over yet. We
can't let our guard down.''
On Sunday, there will be massive mobilizations to pick the coffee crop
''before it rots,'' Cuban TV said.
CROPS BATTERED
In Holguín Province in eastern Cuba, about 50,000 acres of crops, mostly
plantains, were first battered by hurricane winds and then washed over
by continuing torrential rains. Workers rushed to salvage the crops,
Cuban TV reported Friday.
Hurricane Ike also flattened 385,000 acres of sugar cane, out of a total
of 1.7 million planted across the island.
All grove crops in the Isle of Youth, off Cuba's southwest coast, were
decimated when Gustav rumbled through August 30 as a Category 4 hurricane.
A German nongovernmental organization, Agro Acción Alemana, which has
worked in Cuba for 15 years, estimated that at least 75 percent of the
island's agriculture suffered some damage, according to news reports.
Agro Acción Alemana also warned that the food situation is ''truly
difficult'' and that the damages ``leave the country vulnerable to
nationwide food uncertainty in the next six months.''
AREAS UNDER WATER
Meanwhile, flooding also has become an overriding concern.
In Pinar del Río province in western Cuba, the river Cuyaguateje has
overflowed its banks and left entire communities, such as the town of
Guane, underwater and inaccessible by road. It also washed out crops and
tobacco warehouses.
Flooding also persists in the province of Yara, with the rivers Yara and
Río Cauto overflowing its banks due to the rains.
''It's a unique situation,'' an unidentified resident of the town Grito
de Yara said on Cuban TV. The town of Río Cauto still lacked electrical
power Friday.
In the central province of Cienfuegos, numerous towns remain
inaccessible because of the swollen rivers, including Cimarrones, Cien
Rosas, Charco Azul, El Naranjo and Centro Cubano Uno, according to state
run media.
Additional flooding is feared in the province of Villa Clara at the dam
Los Alacranes, as well as in Holguín province, where reservoirs have
reached near 96 percent capacity.
''It is impossible to solve the magnitude of the catastrophe with the
resources available,'' Carlos Lezcano, director of the National
Institute of State Reserves (INRE) said Friday on Cuban television. ``We
will have to prioritize.''
Cuban television reported that President Raúl Castro told Namibian
President Hifikepunye Pohanka in a telephone conversation that ``never
in the history of Cuba had we had a case like this one.''
Aid delivery is focusing on the neediest areas as rain continues to fall
on the island and hampers delivery efforts.
TOWN DEVASTATED
At Los Palacios, the main town in the municipality of the same name in
western Cuba, with a population of about 14,000, only 23 homes were not
damaged. Supplies have already been delivered there, according to Cuban
television. In Holguín province, more than 100,000 buildings are
affected and only 30 percent of the power has been restored, although
telephones are functional.
According to the Civil Defense, the deaths were not caused by the
hurricanes strictly speaking, but by ''the lack of observance of the
security measures'' in almost all cases.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/684707.html
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