Hurricanes Aff Supplement
Inherency
Only low-level coop in the SQ – Civil defense coop is critical
Center for Int’l Policy 10 (12-13, U.S. - Cuba Conference on Hurricane Cooperation,
http://www.ciponline.org/research/html/us-cuba-conference-on-hurricane-cooperation)
Modern-day cooperation between the United States and Cuba on hurricane tracking began in 1963
after Hurricane Flora, and has continued ever since. However, due in part to the differing political
systems, the United States and Cuba dramatically diverge on their approaches toward planning,
educating and communicating with the public. In Cuba, the preparedness system is highly streamlined
and integrated, with strong coordination between the meteorological center, civil defense and staterun media. In the United States, the system lacks smooth integration and coordination between local,
state and federal officials. In Cuba, Dr. Rubiera is well-known as the spokesman on hurricanes. As a
storm approaches, he appears frequently on TV and clearly explains conditions. The public must
understand that a category 3 storm can be more deadly than a category 5 due to flooding, he said; they
must also be aware that any prediction of where landfall will happen has a variation of up to 150 km. “If
people have confidence in the message, they’re more likely to do what’s needed,” Rubiera remarked.
In the United States the public often hears conflicting messages from multiple sources.¶ Responding to
a question, Dr. Rubiera described the warning stages as information, alert and alarm. At the information
stage a hurricane may be days away, and civil defense officials prepare all emergency systems; at the
alert phase, 36 hours before a strike, civil defense examines vulnerable areas and hard to reach places
where early evacuations might be needed, such as isolated mountain communities and offshore resorts.
At the 24-hour alarm phase, general evacuation begins with time built in to ensure that it occurs in
daylight.
Inherency – A2: OFAC
OFAC-licensed programs are still subject to restricts which thwart cooperation
between the Cuba and the US
Bloom, 2k12
[Boom, Brian M. Director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Program and Bassett Maguire Curator of Botany
at the New York Botanical Garden "Biodiversity without Borders: Advancing US-Cuba Cooperation
through Environmental Research," 2012, http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2012/biodiversitywithout-borders]
Despite the success stories of various U.S.-based environmental NGOs, the realities of carrying out effective and
timely collaborative projects between Cuban and U.S. researchers are nonetheless daunting for
everyone concerned. The problems are especially acute for environmental NGOs that have little or no
track record in working with Cuban counterparts and for U.S. government agencies with environmental
responsibilities but without the authority to conduct joint projects with the Cuban government. Even U.S.-based NGOs
licensed by OFAC to conduct environmental projects in Cuba with years of experience doing so are
thwarted by administrative rules and procedures that limit the breadth and depth of collaborative
initiatives working to address urgent and emerging shared environmental problems . These impediments
emanate from both the Cuban and U.S. governments.
OFAC-licensing is a slow, difficult, and oftentimes impossible to navigate process
Bloom, 2k12
[Boom, Brian M. Director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Program and Bassett Maguire Curator of Botany
at the New York Botanical Garden "Biodiversity without Borders: Advancing US-Cuba Cooperation
through Environmental Research," 2012, http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2012/biodiversitywithout-borders]
Licenses for People: OFAC is the U.S. government entity that grants licenses for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, as described in the fiftyone-page document Comprehensive Guidelines for License Applications to Engage in Travel-Related Transactions Involving Cuba.
These guidelines are periodically revised to reflect new policy directives from the White House, as they were most recently on April 19,
2011, with respect to regulations and policies governing purposeful travel, non-family remittances, and U.S. airports supporting licensed
charter flights to and from Cuba. Getting the appropriate license from OFAC is the first hurdle for U.S.
citizens who wish to engage in environmental collaboration with Cuban colleagues , and it can be a very
daunting process. While recent rule changes are very welcome and are improving options for licenses for such
activities, there are still ongoing issues with OFAC. First, the regulations and policies are interpreted
unevenly. As a result, some NGOs are required to have a specific license, while others doing the same
sort of activity are allowed to proceed with a general license . Second, the length of time required to get
a decision on a license application is unpredictable and can range from one month to one year or more ,
which makes it difficult to arrange all the other aspects of conducting collaborative projects (e.g.,
obtaining Cuban visas, securing permits to conduct projects in Cuba, arranging for funding, and scheduling travel and time in Cuba to do
the project).
Relations – Poverty Impacts
Poverty, not military adventurism, rogue nations, or terrorism, poses the greatest
threat to US and global interests—we have a moral and legal obligation to eradicate it
from society
Vear 04 (Jesse Leah, Co-coordinates POWER--Portland Organizing to Win Economic Rights, "Abolishing
Poverty: A Declaration of Economic Human Rights,"
http://www.peaceworkmagazine.org/pwork/0407/040704.htm)
In resisting empire, I share with all of you a common cause and a common urgency, yet having seen and experienced
conditions of poverty lends my voice a special urgency today. For I may not know a whole lot about the US Space program and the role of
I do know first hand about the immense human misery and suffering that plagues the
surface of the earth down here below. And I know that it would take a pittance of what is spent on this
nation's militaristic endeavors to end this human suffering and ensure a decent standard of living for
every man, woman, and child. And I also know that while our nation contemplates sending missions to Mars to probe for any signs
weapons in space, but
of life, the leaders of this same nation couldn't care less about the lives right here on this planet - indeed the lives right here in our nation's own
Capitol, in the shadow of the Washington Monument and the halls of Congress, lives shuddering with hunger and sickness and desperation.
These are things I know all too well. I've heard about the "need" for an advanced missile defense system. I hear this kind of talk and I think to
myself, yes, if only we could have some sort of defense system! Millions and millions of Americans cry out for security! For every war our nation
wages across the globe, there is a war raging right here in our own society - a seemingly endless, silent war being waged against us - the most
vulnerable, defenseless members of society. People like me. Yet no missile defense system will prevent our enemy from striking. Our
enemy is neither deterred by the world's largest army, with its overstuffed arsenal of missiles and
bombs and tanks and warships, nor is it kept at bay by the legions of armed sentries patrolling our
borders. Our enemy does not come in the form of foreign terrorists or so-called rogue nations. Armed with
the mere stroke of a pen, our enemy comes in the form of years and years of national policies that would rather see us starve than invest even
a portion of our nation's wealth in our welfare.
Locked in the cross-hairs of domestic and foreign policies which
intentionally put our bodies in harm's way, our terror is the terror of poverty - a terror boldly and callously
proliferated by our own government. Surely one doesn't need the surveillance powers of high-definition weapons-grade satellites to see the
faces of the some 80 million poor people struggling just to survive in America; to see the worried faces of homeless mothers waiting to be
added to the waiting list for non-existent public housing; to find the unemployment lines filled with parents who aren't eligible to see a doctor
and who can't afford to get sick; to see the children stricken with preventable diseases in the midst of the world's best-equipped hospitals; to
hear the rumble in the bellies of millions of hungry Americans whose only security is a bread line once a week; or to detect the crumbling of our
nation's under-funded, under-staffed schools. Meanwhile, billions are spent waging wars and occupying countries that our school children can't
even find on a map.
Surely it doesn't take a rocket scientist to detect the moral bankruptcy of a nation - by far
the world's richest and most powerful - which disregards the basic human needs of its own despairing people in
favor of misguided military adventures that protect no one, whether in nations half-way across the globe, or in the outer reaches of our
atmosphere. To see these things one needs neither a high-powered satellite nor a specialized degree. One needs only to open one's eyes and
dare to see the reality before them. Yet even as you look you still might not see the millions of poor people in America. My face is only one of
80 million Americans who never get asked for in-depth television interviews or for our expert commentary regarding the state of the economy
or the impact of our nation's policies. In addition to all the indignities suffered by poor people in America, we must suffer the further
indignation of being disappeared - kept discretely hidden away from the eyes, ears, and conscience of the rest of society and the world. The
existence of poverty in the richest country on earth cannot remain a secret for long. Americans, like the majority of the world's peoples, are
compassionate, fair-minded people. When exposed, the moral hypocrisy of poverty in America cannot withstand the light of day any more than
the moral hypocrisy of slavery or race or sex discrimination could. That's where the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign comes in.
we are reaching out to the international community as well as the rest of US society to
help us secure what are our most basic human rights, as outlined in International Law. According to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, an International Treaty signed in 1948 by all UN member nations, including the United States, all nations
have a moral and legal obligation to ensure the basic needs and well-being of all their citizens. Among the
With this campaign,
rights outlined in the Declaration are the rights to food, housing, health care, jobs at living wages, and education. Over half a century after
the United States has sorely neglected its
promise. In a land whose founding documents proclaim life, liberty, and justice for all, we must hold this nation to its
promises.
signing this document, despite huge economic gains and a vast productive capacity,
And so, armed only with the force of International law and the force of our convictions, thousands of homeless, working poor, and unemployed
families and individuals from all across this great nation are coming together to take part in this campaign and form what Dr. Martin Luther King
as Dr. King once said: "The curse of poverty has no
justification in our age… The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and
immediate abolition of poverty."
called "a multi-racial nonviolent army of poor people." For
Ongoing global poverty outweighs nuclear war and genocide—only our impact
evidence is comparative
Spina 00 (Stephanie Urso, Ph.D. candidate in social/personality psychology at the Graduate School of
the City University of New York, Smoke and Mirrors: The Hidden Context of Violence in Schools and
Society, p. 201)
This sad fact is not limited to the United States. Globally, 18 million deaths a year are caused by
structural violence, compared to 100,000 deaths per year from armed conflict. That is, approximately
every five years, as many people die because of relative poverty as would be killed in a nuclear war
that caused 232 million deaths, and every single year, two to three times as many people die from
poverty throughout the world as were killed by the Nazi genocide of the Jews over a six-year period.
This is, in effect, the equivalent of an ongoing, unending, in fact accelerating, thermonuclear war or
genocide, perpetuated on the weak and the poor every year of every decade, throughout the world.
(See James Gilligan, Violence: Reflections on a National Epidemic, New York: Vintage Books, 1997, 196).
Global survival depends on ensuring Third World poverty alleviation—this is a moral
and a practical imperative
Solo 92 (Executive Director of Cultural Survival, "Who Do We Think We Are," Cultural Studies
Quarterly, Spring, http://www.cs.org/publications/csq/csq-article.cfm?id=552)
That questions is particularly potent now that the Cold War is over.
In the Third World, centuries of colonialism and
decades of superpower rivalry have left a damaging legacy. Southern countries and other peoples
victimized by colonial expansion and its consequent political and economic systems are intensifying
their calls for justice, not charity. The challenge is made even more difficult because a major export of the developed world has
been the concept of the nation state, with its emphasis on militarization and internal security.
On the positive side, one lesson to be drawn from the collapse of communism is that grassroots politics can lead to revolutionary changes in
governments and institutions of all kinds. In Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, new thinking, developed and embraced first by local actors,
opened up political possibilities on an international scale.
As the next millennium approaches, Cultural Survival hopes to take that lesson toward a second wave of political action that will help turn
around relations between North and South, just as ordinary citizens helped reverse the tide of East-West relations. But while Western
movements have focused on the weapons of war, the politics of the 1990s will center on a single interlocking agenda: human rights, the
environment, and development. As its heart are some 600 million indigenous people.
Their fate is a pathway and litmus test of
our progress toward a peaceful and sustainable world order. From the periphery of political, economic, and social
power, they are moving to the center of world attention. Our survival depends on ensuring that no one, particularly
the poorest of the poor, is thrown out of the canoe or viewed as dispensable. This is a moral and a
practical imperative.
Disease Adv
Solvency – Preparedness Key
The plan is key to risk communication which solves medical disasters
Center for Int’l Policy 10 (12-13, U.S. - Cuba Conference on Hurricane Cooperation,
http://www.ciponline.org/research/html/us-cuba-conference-on-hurricane-cooperation)
Cuba’s director of disaster medicine, Dr. Guillermo Mesa Ridel, further emphasized the integrated
Cuban approach. A single entity—civil defense—oversees and coordinates every aspect, from risk
analysis and planning to educating and communicating with the public to evacuations and recovery.
It’s both a top-down and bottom-up process, with officials at every level responsible for everyone
beneath them, beginning with Cuba’s president. The Ministry of Public Health, under which Dr. Mesa
works, issues instructions and guidelines to every Cuban medical facility covering all types of disasters,
from hurricanes and other natural catastrophes to epidemics to technological mishaps. Every health
institution must create a detailed disaster reduction plan and spend three percent of its budget to
implement it. Courses and workshops in disaster medicine are mandatory for all doctors and first
responders. While disaster response is taught to all students at Havana’s Latin American Medical School,
foreigners often come to Cuba to study the systems in place.¶ To Dr. Mesa, the key to success in
disaster medicine lies in educating and communicating with the public. Preventing a disaster is much
cheaper and more effective than responding to one. “To teach people, you have first to work on their
risk perception,” he said.
Exchanges with Cuba solve medical emergencies
van Heerden 9 (Ivor, Center for Democracy in the Americas, Avenues of Potential Cooperation Between the U.S. and
Cuba on Hurricane Preparedness and Disaster Management, in 9 Ways For US to Talk to Cuba and For Cuba to Talk to US,
published by the CDA, http://cubasource.org/pdf/uscubarelations_ninessays.pdf)
Although Cuba is less densely populated than the U.S., the main¶ reason for Cuba’s extraordinary
survival record is the high priority¶ Cubans place on saving lives and thus planning evacuations. The¶
Consider this astounding¶ contrast: More than 1,600¶ Americans died during¶ Hurricane Katrina in¶ 2005,
and the U.S. death¶ toll from Hurricane Ike in¶ 2008 could exceed one¶ hundred. Cuba’s death¶ rate from
storms over this¶ same period was about¶ three persons per year; its¶ loss of life due to Ike was ¶
comparatively minimal¶ compared to losses in the¶ U.S. Only seven Cubans¶ died from Ike. Cuban
evacuation process starts at the local community level, where¶ suburban or subdivision “block
captains,” who are paid by the government, go from house to house to determine everyone’s needs.
All¶ Cubans know that if they evacuate, their medical needs will be met.¶ Medicines are free and
stockpiled before an emergency. The local¶ block captains have an inventory of medical needs. This
information¶ is supplied to authorities before each storm.¶ Recent research from the Louisiana State
University Hurricane¶ Center10 has shown that about half the 1,600 people who died during¶ Katrina
succumbed because the failed response included a lack of¶ access to important medicines. Duplicating
the block captain¶ approach should be doable in the U.S. If Cuban scientists and emergency managers
were free to travel to the U.S. to meet with their U.S.¶ counterparts, they could provide instruction and
advice on these¶ measures.
Disaster Diplomacy
General Solvency – Either Adv
The plan creates the basis for expanded cooperation throughout the sciences and
undergirds improved relations
AAAS 12 (American Academy of Atmospheric Science, Oceans, Weather, Health—U.S. Researchers Explore Potential
Collaboration with Cuban Colleagues, http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/0501cuba.shtml)
These may be small steps, but they have a significant value in helping to build the foundation for
collaboration among researchers in Cuba and the United States. Though the formal relationship
between the two nations has long been strained, the scientists are betting on better times ahead, even
if they don’t know exactly when.¶ “While it’s been the same for 50 years, it will change—political
relationships always do,” said Turekian. “Whenever that relationship changes, you want to be in place
where you have the groundwork laid and relationships built so you can take advantage of areas where
science cooperation can actually contribute to both countries.”
Solvency
Inherency – Embargo Blocks
The embargo on scientific exchanges have severely limited the communication of
information and transfer of technologies for hurricane disaster mitigation
Comfort, 2k
[Comfort, Louise K. University of Pittsburgh, "Disaster: agent of diplomacy or change in international
affairs?." Cambridge Review of International Affairs 14.1 (2000): 277-294.]
The missing property of CAS in this case is flow. The US embargo on trade with Cuba, in effect since 1960, has seriously
restricted the exchange of goods, information and people between the two nations. The 1992 and 1996
acts added to the barriers between the two governments. These acts, instead of compelling Cuba to change its form of
government in order to participate in economic trade with the US and its allies, have had the opposite effect. Cuba, under Castro’s
leadership, has actively and defiantly sought to limit its relations with the US, seeking to brand the US as the aggressor and doubling the
constraints on flow between the two nations. Recent activity since the case of Elian Gonzalez indicates some change in this area, but
clearly legal constraints have limited the communication and information exchange between the two
nations that are central to adaptive performance in reducing their shared risk of hurricanes.
Solvency – Generic
Generic examples of policy changes the plan would possibly allow
Bloom, 2k12
[Boom, Brian M. Director of the Caribbean Biodiversity Program and Bassett Maguire Curator of Botany
at the New York Botanical Garden "Biodiversity without Borders: Advancing US-Cuba Cooperation
through Environmental Research," 2012, http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2012/biodiversitywithout-borders]
A few months before the Brookings/EDF gathering, the American Council of Learned Societies/ Social Science Research
Council Working Group on Cuba and the Christopher Reynolds Foundation sponsored a two-day workshop. “Workshop on
the Future of Environmental Collaboration between the United States and Cuba,” held in November 2008 in New York City, helped
identify and define the issues that led to the Brookings/EDF event and to a number of others. This workshop was attended by thirty-two
representatives of environmental NGOs and private philanthropic foundations. One of the outputs was a letter, dated December 11,
2008, which was signed by twelve CEOs of environmental NGOs, addressed to then President-elect Barack Obama urging him to “take
action to increase scientific exchange and collaboration between the United States and Cuba.” The letter specifically suggested
issuing U.S. visas to Cuban scientists and conservation professionals; directing the U.S. Department of
the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to grant licenses to U.S. scientists and
conservation professionals planning to collaborate with their Cuban colleagues ; giving OFAC licenses
to U.S. entities to enable Cuban scientists and conservation professionals to travel to third countries
when U.S. funds are used; directing federal agencies, such as NOAA, to encourage more collaboration
between U.S. and Cuban scientists and academic and conservation professionals; and amending OFAC
regulations that govern educational exchanges between the United States and Cuba to allow more
flexibility.
General – Coop Overall
Better cooperation solves in spite of hurdles and emulation issues
Times-Picayune 9 (8-14, Learning from Cuba on hurricanes, http://blog.nola.com/guesteditorials/2009/08/learning_from_cuba_on_hurrican.html)
How does this cooperation work?¶ First of all, the two nations must closely coordinate in tracking the
storms and warning of their impact. This, by and large, they do. The U.S. Hurricane Center in Miami is in
direct contact with the Cuban Meteorology Institute, and they exchange information on a continuing
basis. Cuba, moreover, permits American weather planes to fly through its airspace, and the United
States shares with Cuba the pertinent information they develop.¶ This exchange in weather tracking
could certainly be expanded but has been reasonably effective even at its present level.¶ Much more
remains to be done. Both sides should stand ready to provide medical assistance, doctors and other
relief efforts to the other, and that requires active communications between official agencies of the
two countries that simply do not exist at present. Cuba came to the United States just before Hurricane
Katrina to suggest coordinated efforts against it, for example, but did not receive even an
acknowledgment -- and then only that -- until after it had struck.¶ And each should have a better idea
as to the other's disaster-management procedures. The United States especially might profit from
studying those of Cuba. Over the past 10 years, despite being struck by increasingly violent storms,
Cuba has lost only some 30 lives to them. The United States, of course, lost more than 1,500 to Katrina
alone. The difference results, more than anything else, from preparedness on the Cuban side and lack of
it on the side of the United States. The Cubans practice evacuations on a periodic basis and instruct
citizens as to what they are to do in various emergencies. The United States has no such exercises or
preparations.¶ Fortunately, there are those on both sides pushing for the kind of cooperation that is
needed, as suggested by the three delegations from the Gulf Coast to Cuba over the past year or more
and the very positive response from the Cubans.
General – Travel Ban
Lifting travel bans & removing licensing solves – Information is key
van Heerden 9 (Ivor, Center for Democracy in the Americas, Avenues of Potential Cooperation Between the U.S. and
Cuba on Hurricane Preparedness and Disaster Management, in 9 Ways For US to Talk to Cuba and For Cuba to Talk to US,
published by the CDA, http://cubasource.org/pdf/uscubarelations_ninessays.pdf)
While the current sanctions allow scientific visits to Cuba under certain circumstances, they are
hampered by an onerous licensing process¶ under the auspices of the U.S. Treasury Department. The
rules that¶ restrict scientists — and Americans in general — from traveling to Cuba¶ must be lifted.
They are impeding the free flow of ideas that could benefit both countries in emergency management.
No matter how much¶ our government may decry the Cuban regime, it is a fact that they are¶ very
successful in orchestrating evacuations and meeting the public¶ health and medical needs of their
population during disasters.¶ An exchange of ideas always benefits those involved. We have a¶ rapidly
growing Spanish speaking immigrant population — many of¶ whom are drawn to coastal cities such as
New Orleans. To lift travel¶ restrictions and encourage two-way dialogue will improve the wellbeing
of both populations. In this day of high speed digital data transfer, U.S.-Cuban cooperation could be
well-developed, but collaboration has been hindered by the myopic view of mostly U.S. administrators
and politicians.¶ The past fifty years of U.S. policy of shunning and demonizing the¶ Cuban regime and its
people has not brought about significant political change in Cuba. However, open dialogue, freedom to
travel and lifting technology bans could better achieve U.S. government goals.¶ U.S.-Cuban
cooperation could lead to saving more lives from hurricane threats. Our Cuba policy is endangering
millions of Americans.¶ We need to change it. We should cooperate more closely on all¶ aspects of
disaster management. And the time to do so — to confront¶ this mutual threat together — is now.
Say Yes – Both U.S. and Cuba
No political barriers to coop
Center for Int’l Policy 11 (citing Wayne S. Smith, senior fellow and Cuba Project director, Center for International
Policy, U.S. - Cuban Cooperation in Defending Against Hurricanes, http://www.ciponline.org/research/html/us-cubancooperation-hurricanes)
The first panel revolved around the CIP delegation’s May visit to Havana and featured four participants
from the trip. Smith moderated the panel and began by expressing his discontent over the current state
of U.S.-Cuban relations. Smith noted that the “Cold War is over” and therefore, “there is no reason not
to discuss differences and resolve them in a more efficient way.” Smith then recounted that after
Hurricane Katrina, Cuba offered 1400 fully-equipped medical personnel and although the U.S.
ultimately declined, Smith sees the gesture as a sign of the Cubans’ willingness to help. Smith believes
that with open dialogue, the two governments can finally see that they share concerns including the
threat of hurricanes and the responsibility to protect the maritime environment. He said that despite
the political distance between the two governments, both Cubans and Americans have responded
positively to conferences and delegations, aimed at bringing them together.
Cuban scientists will coop
AAAS 12 (American Academy of Atmospheric Science, Oceans, Weather, Health—U.S. Researchers Explore Potential
Collaboration with Cuban Colleagues, http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/0501cuba.shtml)
“The recent visits showed that the Cuban mindset is really ready to reach out,” said Peter Agre, a Nobel
laureate in chemistry and a former president of AAAS, who returned in March from his third visit to the
nation. “The scientists would have no trouble working together... The Cubans are understandably proud
of their science, and they see us very positively. I would anticipate if we could normalize relations and
do science as a starting point, then really good things could happen.”
A2: Can’t Model Cuba – Political Differences
In spite of differences in political culture, information improves processes
van Heerden 9 (Ivor, Center for Democracy in the Americas, Avenues of Potential Cooperation Between the U.S. and
Cuba on Hurricane Preparedness and Disaster Management, in 9 Ways For US to Talk to Cuba and For Cuba to Talk to US,
published by the CDA, http://cubasource.org/pdf/uscubarelations_ninessays.pdf)
Although monetary costs from storms¶ devastate and demoralize — human lives¶ also hang in the
balance. The saving of¶ lives is of paramount importance in disaster management. Consider this
astounding¶ contrast: More than 1,600 Americans died¶ during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the¶ U.S.
death toll from Hurricane Ike in 2008¶ could exceed one hundred. Cuba’s death¶ rate from storms over
this same period was¶ about three persons per year; its loss of life¶ due to Ike was comparatively
minimal¶ compared to losses in the U.S. Only seven¶ Cubans died from Ike.9¶ This difference in death
rates between¶ the so-called “third world country” and¶ the United States is striking. Cuba has better
evacuation plans, superior post disaster medical support, and more advanced citizen disaster
preparedness¶ education programs. Their strengths point to a host of potential pathways for future
cooperation with the U.S. While there are distinct cultural differences between the U.S. and Cuba, with
so much at stake,¶ a free-flowing exchange of ideas could allow both sides to learn from¶ each other.
In spite of limitations on modeling, the plan solves the worst impacts
New York Times 9 (8-20, U.S. and Cuba Work Together on Storms, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/americas/21storm.html?_r=3&)
Mr. Avila, whose mother lives in Cuba, sees his work with Cuban meteorologists as apolitical. “I’m
trained to save lives and it doesn’t matter if they are Cuban, Chinese or American lives I’m saving by
forecasting storms,” he said.¶ But he said the evacuation approach used in his birthplace would not
necessarily work for his adopted home.¶ “There, they put everyone in a truck and move them,” Mr.
Avila said. “You can’t do that in the U.S.”¶ But some things are more transferable. Mr. Turner, the
Louisiana flood official who visited Cuba last month, said he was impressed with the islandwide disaster
drills and the regular inspections of homes to determine their ability to withstand strong winds.¶ “There
are probably lessons that can be learned on both sides,” he said.