Since Monday, the province of Santiago de Cuba remains without radio and television broadcasts due to the lack of electricity supply at the Boniato transmitter center and the damage to the equipment caused by the Hurricane Melissa.
According to information from the Santiago de Cuba Electric Company and Radiocuba, the interruption affects all conventional analog and digital signals due to the absence of energy in the national grid and the maintenance on the emergency generators, he noted in Facebook the local station Radio Revolution.
A group of technicians are working to recover the supply, although the repairs are complex and there is no defined time frame for the total restoration of these emissions. The high definition (HD) signal suffers additional damage indefinitely.
No HD signal “indefinitely”
“There is also no HD signal and it is for an indefinite period!”, assures the publication on networks, due to severe failures in the transmitters and air conditioning systems, aggravated by humidity accumulated after the passage of the cyclone.
A multidisciplinary team from Radiocuba repairs these critical components, although so far the authorities have not announced a specific date for the complete normalization of the service in the province.
In a similar publication by the Santiago journalist Cuscó Tarradell, several Internet users specified in the comments that in several municipalities of the province there has been no signal since long before November 18, as indicated in the official statement, and others assure that after the hurricane there was stability in the signal.
“There is something that I do not understand: if after the cyclone, until Monday, November 17, the channels were visible well, how is it possible that now it is reported that the electrical energy has not yet been able to reach the transmission center,” a user questioned.
Another woman from Santiago commented that after Melissa there was a TV and radio signal, while another assured that “the HD problem is old,” so it is not understood that “the signal was lost if there was transmission after the hurricane.”
Electricity in Santiago de Cuba, most affected region
The passage of Melissa caused considerable material damage in that region of the country. According to data released yesterday During a meeting of the National Defense Council, about 85% of the east of the island had been reconnected to the electrical grid. Of those five provinces, only Las Tunas already had service throughout its territory.
Electrical recovery advances in the eastern zone, but blackouts increase throughout the country
Yesterday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines updated the data on their networks. According to them, the recovery was going at 99.05% in Guantánamo, 96.25% in Granma and 93.54% in Holguín. Santiago, with 60.07% reconnected, continues to be the province most behind.
The repair of the lines, however, does not mean that power will automatically return to customers, since Cuba suffers a serious energy crisis and the SEN is unable to regularly produce the electricity that homes and the economy demand.
Along with the increase in people with access to electricity in that region, the costs have also increased. blackouts due to generation deficit throughout the country.
