Havana/Cuba has not yet received the three million dollar aid that the United States Government announced it would deliver through the Catholic Church organization Caritas to help the victims of Hurricane Melissa. As the director of Cáritas Cuba, Carmen María Nodal, explained to EFE, US aid “is still in process”, more than a month after Melissa crossed the east of the Island as a category 3 hurricane (out of 5) on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
“The (American) aid has not yet been received, it is still in process. It will be received in material goods, for the affected dioceses, and will be delivered by the Diocesan Caritas,” he indicated. EFE contacted the US embassy in Havana, but so far has not received a response.
“The United States is coordinating with the Catholic Church the distribution of three million dollars in humanitarian assistance directly to those most affected in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa,” the US State Department wrote a month ago on social networks.
“Everything is needed” in the affected regions: from drinking water to non-perishable food, hygiene and cleaning products, as well as medicines
Nodal told EFE that currently “everything is needed” in the affected regions: from drinking water to non-perishable foods, including hygiene and cleaning products, as well as medicines, especially “due to the arbovirus epidemic”, chikungunya and dengue. He also highlighted the need for “roofs” for the homes affected by the hurricane and for “resources that allow the use of the land for the cultivation of short-cycle foods that help guarantee the food of the people in these circumstances.”
According to Nodal, Caritas has been very active in eastern Cuba since Melissa, trying to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the hurricane.
The Catholic organization has collaborated in the delivery of food collected by the Archdiocese of Miami, which has chartered four planes with donations to date that have already arrived on the Island.
It has also collaborated in the distribution of food and other donations with World Central Kitchen (WCK), the NGO of Spanish chef José Andrés; the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and the Polish embassy in Cuba.
Cáritas has collaborated in the delivery of food collected by the archdiocese of Miami, which has chartered four planes with donations
WCK has distributed 7,000 food kits to families and kitchen supplies – like a thousand queen pots – and the CRS delivered 1,625 tents to families with damage in eastern Cuba.
Since the hurricane, multilateral agencies, NGOs such as the Red Cross and countries such as China, Venezuela, Spain, Colombia, South Korea and Mexico have sent food and humanitarian aid to Cuba.
Melissa left considerable material damage – but not fatalities, according to the Cuban Government – with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and rainfall that left up to 400 millimeters (or liters per square meter) in some parts of the country.
According to official data, more than 90,000 homes were damaged, in addition to 600 state medical infrastructures, more than 2,000 educational centers, some 100,000 hectares of crops and transportation, telecommunications, electricity and water supply infrastructure.
The United Nations presented an action plan of 74.2 million dollars (64 million euros) to serve a population of around one million people, just over 10% of the country’s population.
