The United Nations launched this Wednesday an action plan for the recovery of the east of Cuba after the passage of powerful Hurricane Melissawith the goal of raising $74.2 million.
The Office of the Resident Coordinator of the The UN in Cuba disseminated this plan to serve 1 million people which calls for urgent action to protect vulnerable groups and recover essential services.
“It is critical to support the response and recovery efforts that the country keeps underway,” states the report, published a week after Melissa crossed the eastern tip of Cuba as a category 3 (out of 5) hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
The document highlights that “The magnitude of the damage is profound” and calls to “support the authorities in the protection of the groups in the most vulnerable situation and in the recovery of essential services, many of which remain interrupted or in critical conditions.”
According to preliminary UN estimates, nearly 2.2 million people in the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Guantánamo “have been severely impacted with critical impacts on housing, basic services, communications, livelihoods and a threat to food security.”
Melissa damaged more than 45 thousand houses and 1,500 schools in eastern Cuba
United Nations report on the impact of the hurricane in Cuba
United Nations reminds that “Cuba is excluded from the main international financial institutions and has extremely restricted access to sources to finance both disaster response and economic and social recovery of impacted communities.”
The report speaks, based on provisional data, of damages of varying magnitude in some 60,000 homes, 461 medical centers, 1,552 schools (57% of those in the region) and more than 78,700 hectares of crops.
Furthermore, according to this report, 75% of mobile telephony and up to 90% of radio bases (telecommunications antennas) in the eastern provinces are out of service and fiber optic networks suffered breaks.
The National Electric System (SEN) has also been “compromised” by Melissa, with multiple problems in the distribution networks due to broken cables and poles, which It adds to the energy crisis that the country was already suffering, especially its eastern third.
Melissa hit five eastern provinces of Cuba with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and rainfall that reached 400 millimeters (or liters per square meter) in some regions.
To date The Cuban Government has not confirmed fatalities nor has it published a preliminary assessment of material damages, although it has advanced that the effects are extensive in the housing sectorpublic infrastructure and agriculture.
