Although it will take time, the East will recover
Baconao, Santiago de Cuba.– The President of the National Defense Council, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, arrived at the collapsed bridge over the river that gives this town its name and provides access to the communities of María del Pilar and 13 de Marzo, at the start of his fourth visit to this province in 22 days to follow up on the recovery from the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa.
No one remembers such a big flood here, not even when Sandy hit, says Luis Arias, a community leader who stayed there during the storm, along with other locals, to protect the neighborhood’s property.
The first big wave from the river came at midnight on October 28, when it collided with 10- to 12-meter waves from the sea, and the second came at 6:00 a.m. on the 29th, and that’s when we had to go up the hill, he says.
Eighteen of the 24 pipe passages on the bridge are blocked by fences washed down from the hillside, from Gran Piedra, he points out, recalling that in three days, according to rain gauge data, more than 310 millimeters of rain accumulated in the region.
This is not the first time that the low-water bridge in María del Pilar, a neighborhood where some 275 people live, in addition to the 123 who reside beyond it, in 13 de Agosto, has been battered by an extreme hydrometeorological event (but this time it even washed away the reinforced concrete bearing plate), nor that the flooding of the Baconao River threatens and damages the settlements downstream.
Faced with the recurring danger, Díaz-Canel instructed the construction and water resources authorities accompanying him to seek a definitive solution.
He emphasized the need to review the Baconao dam project, an initiative that Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz defended here on this bridge in the late 1980s, according to Luis Arias.
The power lines in María del Pilar are already being repaired, so electricity will be restored in the coming days, starting with social centers and vital services, and the 13 de Agosto community will be connected shortly thereafter.
Díaz-Canel inquired about the water supply following damage to the hydraulic infrastructure in the area and other issues vital to the residents of this remote but beautiful landscape, fertile in every sense, starting with its inhabitants, good and grateful people who, in María del Pilar, on the other side of the river, greeted the President and invited him to their properties.
In the town of Baconao, in conversation with residents, the President highlighted the responsibility and unity with which they acted in the wake of the hurricane, “and now we must continue in this vein and join in the entire recovery process.”
In the council of La Sigua, the damage to infrastructure, the environment, and housing was severe. Melissa hit the housing stock hard, affecting around 900 homes, and the strong waves and storm surge, sea incursions, and river flooding caused drastic damage to coastal vegetation.
The Head of State was interested in the water supply, one of the concerns of the inhabitants, especially those in coastal communities, where the water from the wells is brackish, and he indicated that a pipeline and purification project should be developed to provide a definitive response to this demand.
The president also visited the Baconao Aquarium, where the sea penetrated and broke walls, fish tanks, and the pump house. The animals had been moved to a lagoon reserved for such cases.
However, most areas have already been cleared of debris and damage is being repaired so that they can be partially reopened as soon as possible.
At a subsequent meeting to review recovery efforts in Santiago de Cuba, the president of the Provincial Defense Council, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, reported that 88 families who lost their homes are still being sheltered.
In the territory, damage has been reported in 110,764 homes, of which 3,324 have been completely destroyed and 2,950 partially destroyed. Electricity service has been restored to 66.7%—it should be fully restored by November 30—and water supply to 66.6%.
Landline telephone service is at 56.8%, mobile service at 59.7%, and fiber optic service at 91.3%. Sanitation is at 89%, and the epidemiological situation is described as complex.
Of the schools affected, 521 have been restored; and in agriculture, there is damage to 40,353 hectares of crops, of which 7,473 have been rehabilitated, mainly banana plantations.
IN THE PROVINCE OF GRANMA
“This is a land of heroism, of lineage, which has a heritage of earned patriotism,” said the President of the National Defense Council in Yara, during an afternoon conversation with the inhabitants of this municipality in Granma.
He arrived in Las Caobas, one of the places where the waters covered dozens of homes and caused painful material losses to hundreds of families.
At the side of the road, about two meters above the village, a group of women and men from the community waited to greet him and thank him, first for prioritizing life and now for the material and emotional support to move forward and even improve their material and spiritual conditions.
“If today, in the midst of this situation, we do not have to mourn the loss of human lives, it is due, regardless of the organizational work of the authorities in the territory, the province, the municipality, and the defense zone, to the response of the population,” Díaz-Canel emphasized.
“The disciplined manner in which the population followed the guidelines helped to carry out the entire evacuation mobilization, and thanks to that, we do not have to mourn the loss of human lives,” he insisted. “And we will come out of this looking good,” he assured them.
In Las Caobas de Yara, representatives of the Defense Zone reported 77 damaged homes and the loss of 457 mattresses, including 49 personal mattresses and 11 crib mattresses.
In this predominantly rice-growing area, 723 hectares of grain were affected, 412 in the process of harvesting and 311 in the process of ripening, although some have been able to recover. In terms of livestock, the losses amount to 240 head.
The local housing fund has already provided solutions for some homes with fiber cement tiles and has sold resources to 23 families.
Las Caobas de Yara has also received a free food module, the standard family basket, and other aid, and in the coming days, mattresses will begin to arrive, eleven of them from the 153 donated by the Ministry of the Interior for the affected areas.
The President explained that this aid is the result of the country’s own efforts, its reserves, the solidarity of many friendly countries, and the solidarity of the population, businesses, and the private sector.
Díaz-Canel called for unity, discipline, mutual aid, and the creation of a favorable climate for communication, although he explained that some things will take time.
Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, explained the arrival and delivery of aid that the country is receiving from friends around the world, which continues to arrive and is directed toward the most pressing needs. He also explained that resources are being mobilized to activate the country’s existing industrial capacities.
The Minister of Domestic Trade, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, explained to the residents of Las Caobas de Yara the distribution of the standardized family basket which, based on donations and the country’s own reserves, includes the seven pounds of rice for November and the delivery of part of the December quota, as well as grains, oil, sugar, a quantity of chicken, food modules for affected families, and cleaning supplies.
For her part, Deputy Minister of Public Health Carilda Peña García spoke about the behavior of arboviruses, especially dengue and chikungunya.
At the end of the visit to Yara, the first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Yudelkis Ortiz Barceló, reported the latest data on the recovery process.
She explained that the restoration of electricity service in Granma was at 96.43%, and telecommunications had reached 99%. The water supply continues to be the most critical situation.
According to the latest figures, 30,000 homes have been affected, of which 24,000 have been visited; 15,800 mattresses were damaged, and 3,426 have already been delivered. (Take from Granma)
