The Cuban East continues in emergency. The helicopters are not enough to cover all the isolated areas, where messages from desperate people still come from.
Some 29 people who were held incommunicado in the La Camilo community, in the Holguín municipality of Urbano Noris, were rescued after 30 hours of waiting and repeated calls for help from family and friends on social networks.
Among them were eight children, 11 women, nine men and one disabled person. There are still 94 people to be rescued, reported the local station Radio SG La Voz del Azúcar.
“Since yesterday [miércoles 29 de octubre] “They are asking for help early and no one has come,” said Thalía, a resident of the San Germán municipality, in response to a question from CubaNet via Messenger. “The people are still there, they are still alive, but they are very hungry, wet, they have nothing to eat. Among them are 25 children, all desperate,” he added. “We no longer find what to do or who to call.”
The message arrived accompanied by other similar ones. In the town of La Camilo, Urbano Noris municipality, more than a hundred people have been trapped for 34 hours in the old doctor’s office, surrounded by the water of the Cauto River.
“So far they have been there since yesterday at 10:00 in the morning. They are in the old office waiting to be rescued,” Liumislennis told this journalist, also through a messaging application.
Communications are intermittent, but from Holguín the relatives insist: “The river is still high. They are very hungry and cold.” Among the refugees is the director of the town’s primary school, who stayed to take care of the center’s assets, along with the elderly, women with small children and people with disabilities.
At 2:49 in the afternoon this Thursday, the local station confirmed in a brief statement: “In this district there are a total of 150 people, including 25 children.” He did not offer information on when or how rescue and rescue efforts will occur.
He only announced that “the Revolutionary Armed Forces are evaluating all options” and that “a representation of the highest authorities of the Party and the Government in the province of Holguín continue to advise these rescue operations from the Defense Council in Urbano Noris.”
Land access is cut off. The only possible route would be through Ingenio Viejo, Cauto Cristo municipality (Granma), according to the station itself. “Conditions continue to be critical with those affected by flooding in the southern sugarcane massif due to the flooding of the Cauto River,” he added. Other communities in similar conditions are Travesía, 20 Rosas, Sabanilla, Saín, Dos Bocas and Estrada, where, according to the state media, “all of these are waiting to be rescued.”
Later, the provincial newspaper of Holguín, Now, reported on Facebook that actions are coordinated with the province of Granma “to be able to remove them with specialized equipment.” Some people would have managed to return to their homes to stock up on food, after a slight decrease in the water level, and then return to the doctor’s office “to wait for the definitive solution.”
Insufficient rescue operations
In the Cacocum municipality, the authorities They managed to rescue 38 people with the support of military personnel and a PTS amphibious transporter, which sailed eight kilometers to the access point.
In Sagua de Tánamo, 142 people—including 30 minors, mothers with children and disabled people— They were moved to a safe place by Rescue and Rescue forces and volunteers from the Moa Red Cross after the river flooded.
According to Facebook user Edmundo Dantes Juniorhis location became known thanks to complaints on social networks.
A video recorded by cameraman Eddie de la Pera shows an Air Force helicopter transporting people to safe areas, a sign that some air operations have already begun.
But testimonies indicate that there are many more trapped and rescues are progressing slowly.
According to CNN figuresthe cut-off communities amounted to 241, as a result of the flooding of rivers and the collapse of roads in several areas of the eastern territory. More than 735,000 people were evacuated.
Situation of evacuees in Granma
A Facebook post alert about the situation at the “Antonio Betancourt Flores” Basic Secondary School, in Cauto Cristo, where evacuees had to go up to the second floor due to rising water.
“The water is rising more and more, to the point that they had to take the evacuees to the second floor. And no one from the Granma authorities has gone to see the situation. Help is being asked to get them out of there because the lives of all those people are in danger because they could drown. PLEASE HELP SO THAT LIVES ARE NOT LOST,” cries Carlos Silva in a video posted on Facebook.
“SOS Help. There are children, bedridden and without eating anything for hours and the water continues to rise,” Marisbel Oduardo Suárez warnedalso on Facebook.
The evacuees, although they appreciate being “protected,” report that there is no water to drink or bathe, nor enough food, said Yeranis Ruiz from Cauto Cristo, in a post from the same social network.
“Last night only, at 12:00 at night, a bread and a soft drink. Today there was no breakfast or snack; they only distributed some cookies to the children and a glass of soft drink, and because the Church and the TCPs donated it [trabajadores por cuenta propia]”he added.
According to the complaint, the situation is complicated and no one seems to be looking for a solution: “There are children, sick people, everyone is hungry because there is no way to cook something. (…) It is not easy to be in this situation and be without water and without food. Please, find a way, I don’t know, by helicopter, whatever.”
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Guamá (Santiago de Cuba) as a category 3, and weakened to category 2 as it entered Holguín. Its passage left extensive areas flooded and the collapse of bridges, roads and power lines. Satellite images show the Cauto valley converted into a mirror of water.
International aid and citizen response
The United Nations System in Cuba reported that its response includes sending humanitarian aid through the PAHO/WHO Cubawith “5,000 basic health services benefited with emergency kits and 42,000 chlorine tablets to treat 8 million liters of water,” according to the entity.
In parallel, citizen networks and Cuban civil society groups began to organize an independent uprising to identify the victims and channel direct aid from inside and outside the country. The lists circulate collaboratively on social networks, while shipments of food, medicine and essential products are managed.
From the United States, the current Secretary of State, the Cuban-American Marco Rubio, expressed his solidarity with the victims and asked that aid reach the population directly. “The US is ready to help the people of Cuba,” he said Blondadding that aid would be delivered through local partners to ensure it reaches those who really need it.
Although no deaths have been officially reported, some victims speak of missing people because “the river took the houses yet”.
Meanwhile, Eastern Cuba remains in emergency. The helicopters are not enough to cover all the isolated areas, where messages from desperate people still come from. “They are still alive,” wrote Thalía. “But wet, hungry and waiting for someone to arrive.”
