FRFI 164 December 2001 / January 2002
In November, Cuba was lashed by Hurricane Michelle, the most powerful storm to hit the country in over 50 years. Despite winds of over 135 mph and extensive flooding, only five Cubans were killed. This compares with 12 deaths and 26 people reported missing when a much weaker Michelle crossed Central America earlier. In floods in the Philippines and Algeria in the same period, hundreds of lives were lost. JIM CRAVEN reports.
The difference was due to Cuba’s civil defence contingencies. The operation included moving over 700,000 people to safe shelters, together with animals and equipment, in just 24 hours. Electricity supplies were turned off to prevent accidents. After the storm the Cuban people mobilised to clear up and salvage anything that could be saved from the extensive damage. Reserve supplies of food and other essentials were immediately on hand to ensure no-one suffered unnecessarily.
Such a national co-ordinated effort is only possible because Cuba is a socialist country. It devotes a large proportion of its resources to the welfare of the people and it has an organisational infrastructure, which both serves the people and promotes their participation.
Compare this with the desperate plight we so commonly see when natural disasters hit other countries, even rich ones such as Britain. In this country welfare services have been privatised or cut back to the bone. People are expected to care only for themselves. If you’re lucky, insurance will pick up the pieces, assuming you could afford it in the first place. Imagine, if flash floods were to hit you tomorrow, would you know what to do or where you could be sure of help? In Cuba the people do.
Within three days the Cubans had a detailed list of all the damage, right down to the precise number of trees blown down in Havana. The national priorities were rehousing the homeless, roof repairs and resumption of electricity, gas and water services. The storm has been a major setback for Cuba. Nevertheless, Fidel Castro who was criss-crossing the worst affected areas even before the hurricane had gone by, said ‘We have the resources to recover ourselves. You can’t measure damage just by volume, by cost, that’s capitalism’.
The Cubans have refused offers of charity from the US government because it was conditional on political concessions. Instead the Cubans have challenged the United States to break the blockade by selling them food, medicines and raw materials. At the time of writing, two weeks after the hurricane, Britain’s Clare Short was still pondering whether to help!
* Hurricane Appeal: an account is being set up by the Cuban Embassy in London to channel vitally needed financial aid to Cuba following the hurricane. Please send cheques/POs payable to the Cuban Embassy, London to The Hurricane Appeal, Cuban Embassy, 167 High Holborn, London WC1
