Cuban soldiers are getting ready for rescue and rescue tasks in the face of the next scourge of the Hurricane Melissawhich foresees the evacuation of some 650 thousand people in the east of the island.
Images shared by Ministry of the Armed Forces of the island (MINFAR) They show the formation of brigades for these tasks in the different eastern territories, as well as the means that must be used by them.
Among the latter are seen in the photos – also published by the Eastern Army— boats, trucks, cranes and other vehicles, as well as different means of protection and rescue.
The military will presumably focus on rescuing people trapped or injured by river flooding, floods, landslides and landslides resulting from the impact of Melissa, which according to forecasts should reach Cuba as a highly intense hurricane.
Evacuations underway
Meanwhile, the Cuban Government estimates that around 650,000 people will have to be evacuated or protected in the five eastern provinces due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Melissa.
The province with the highest number of expected evacuees is Santiago de Cubawhere more than 258 thousand people must be protected, according to its authorities.
In Guantánamo the figure rises to almost 140 thousand; in Granma, 110 thousand; in Las Tunas, 72 thousand; and in Holguín, 69 thousand, according to figures released this Sunday during a meeting of the National Defense Council, chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel.
In total, around 7% of the Cuban population must be protected from the impact of Melissa, although in the eastern territories themselves that percentage is much higher. In Guantánamo, for example, it is about 30% of the inhabitants of that province. There, among other areas, the town of San Antonio del Sur was being evacuated, according to reports on the networks.
At the meeting, Díaz-Canel stressed that “the fundamental thing is the protection of the population” and called for maintaining “constant” communication with the people “using all possible means.” In addition, he ordered “to evacuate all people who are downstream of the dams, microdams and in everything that is a flood zone.”
Likewise, he called on the authorities and entities of the State to “work intensely” in the days remaining until Melissa’s scourge and do so thinking about “the worst of the variants.” “What we don’t do now we lose later,” he asserted, according to the Cuban Presidency.
“Let no one be left behind”
As is usual in this type of event, thousands of evacuees are transferred to state centers, while others are protected in the homes of neighbors and relatives with better conditions.
In different messages, local authorities and media have referred to the sanitation, organization and protection of people and resources that are being carried out in the face of the ever-closer arrival of Melissa, amid the limitations due to the economic crisis in the country.
At the same time, they have called on people to seek maximum protection from the powerful hurricane, show solidarity with their neighbors and support state entities so that “no one is left behind.”
Meanwhile, citizen calls are published on the networks to the authorities themselves so that they are adequately informed in the midst of the energy crisis that the island is suffering and that the measures planned for these cases are taken in good time, with a view to minimizing the damage as much as possible.
Alert and support messages are also multiplying for the territories that will suffer the strong impact of the meteorological phenomenon, and requests to the people who reside there not to trust themselves or wait until the last moment to protect themselves or receive help.
