Recuperating from Hurricane Charley: A Small Human Touch
by Susan Hurlich,
Havana, 3 September 2004
The hand of friendship and support takes many forms.
While Cuba breathes a sigh of relief that Hurricane Frances, which at this very
moment is raging towards Florida and South Carolina, has left the Caribbean
island untouched, efforts to recuperate from the damages of last month's
Hurricane Charley are well underway.
Sometimes the scale of damages caused by hurricanes are so large, they're beyond
human comprehension. They need to be brought down to a size one can grasp. When
Hurricane Charley, which reached Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale
(sustained winds between 178-209 km/hr), struck Cuba on Friday, August 13th, it
left behind four dead and over 73,500 houses affected, of which 4,117 were
completely destroyed. It also left thousands of hectares of crops devastated,
and power, water and telephone services throughout the western part of the
isl
and seriously damaged. Estimated damages are over $1 billion.
If one goes to the tiny fishing village of El Cajio, however, just what these
immense losses mean in people's day-to-day lives becomes much clearer. Located
on the southern coast of Havana Province, between a river and the sea, El Cajio
is on the path where Charley first made landfall. It's a community of 1,225
people whose life is based on the sea, and it's an old settlement which goes
back to the mid-16th century when it was a provisioning point for Spanish
merchant ships.
Just before Charley struck, most of El Cajio's residents were evacuated to
government shelters, while a few sought refuge with relatives in Havana. When
they returned home, they found that of Cajio's 325 houses, many consisting of
wooden slats with thatch or fibercement roofs, only 14 had survived Charley's
winds and flooding along with the local grocery store and sturdy cement block
primary school. Many people lost not just houses, but every
thing within them:
beds and bedframes, mattresses, clothing, sandals, irons, small gas stoves,
refrigerators, fans. Some fisherman also lost fishing nets and boats.
Yesterday, dozens of international journalists accredited in Cuba (in total,
some 146 individuals from 34 countries) held a small activity in support of El
Cajio. Motivated by a desire to provide a bit of comfort, as well as the
hand of friendship, to people who now have to build their lives from scratch,
journalists brought donations of towels, sheets, household utensils, clothing,
children's toys, etc. They also donated USD $1,665 and 1,041 pesos to help with
El Cajio's recovery.
In support of the event, the International Press Centre provided their
salons for a modest cultural activity that included well-known singer-composer
Vicente Feliu and his 25-year-old daughter, Aurora de los Angeles Feliu, as
well as the sale of art works donated by artists such as
internationally-known painter, engraver and ceramist
Jose Fuster.
Lazaro Jorge Amador Martinez, director of International Relations in the
Provincial Assembly of Havana, attended the event and, in his brief
comments, said that in his province alone, Charley had affected over 38,000
houses - equal to 20% of the province's total housing stock.
In Cuba, whenever there's a hurricane, government policy is to rebuild people's
homes and help them replace their personal belongings free or atsubsidized
prices. Thus, losses are carefully enumerated: houses, mattresses,household
appliances, etc. But full recovery of communities such as Cajio will take at
least 18 months.
Similarly, before donated material goods - such as those provided by the
journalists - are distributed to those who need them, they are first counted
and itemized in the provincial warehouse in Bejucal.
The hand of friendship: it may be small in terms of actual dollars collected and
the amount of goods donated, but it's a very human touch.
---
Susan Hurlich - delfines@enet.cu