AREQUIPA, Peru – The Cuban regime recognized that the damage caused to homes by hurricanes Oscar and Rafael, and the two earthquakes that occurred last Sunday, totaled 46,400 as of the end of this Wednesday, in the six affected provinces (Guantánamo, Artemisa , Mayabeque, Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Granma), as well as on the Isle of Youth.
The data, still preliminary, was offered to the official press the Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, after the National Defense Council that met in the Palace of the Revolution, headed by its ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The owner reported that, in the case of hurricanes, more than 80% of the damage is concentrated in partial and total damage to the roofs, which “could make the recovery more agile.”
In relation to earthquakes, the authorities indicated that the certification work is more in-depth and is being done by sector experts (engineers, architects): here 8,612 damaged homes have been preliminarily reported, of which 156 are total collapses and 5,968 are classified as minor damages.
According to what was announced, the three western provinces affected by Hurricane Rafael They continue in the recovery process, just over a week after the devastating passage of Rafael, which entered the country with category three and winds of 180 kilometers per hour.
From Artemisa, the president of the Provincial Defense Council, Gladys Martínez Verdecia, reported that 193 people remain evacuated.
The recovery of electricity, he stated, reached 44% on Friday night, and for this purpose new brigades have been received from several provinces. The most complex municipalities are Alquízar and Caimito, which so far do not have this service.
In this meeting, the situation in Santiago de Cuba and Granma, the two provinces impacted by the earthquakesof which 3,255 aftershocks were recorded until this Friday.
In Santiago de Cuba, the reported damages to infrastructure were 438, of which 84 had been certified.
For its part, in Granma, where the impact was much greater, the damages amounted to 8,174, of which 5,441 had a certification form. In this regard, the regime assured that construction materials would already be arriving in the province to undertake repairs.
Given this panorama, this week Joaquín Alonso, Minister of Economy and Planning, admitted that Cuba will not experience economic growth in 2024. “The economic development of a country depends largely on energy, and we have had electrical problems throughout the year and not just this month,” he said.
According to official figures, the Cuban economy contracted 1.9% in 2023, although independent experts suggest that the drop could be even greater.
Natural disasters have exacerbated the Island’s already precarious economic situation. The Government now faces the challenge of promoting recovery amid economic and technological limitations, while thousands of families have lost their homes and key sectors have suffered considerable damage.
