"It's just a cyclone"

 

By Amelia Medina Blanco

On Monday, I was working on my homework when my housemate barged into the living room to ask me if my family was doing well; they had just received news that Tropical Storm Eta was making its way through Cuba. I didn’t even have to think twice before I answered “of course they are alright, it’s just a cyclone (ciclón in Spanish).” 

In Cuba, and in the Caribbean in general, tropical storms are a given. Every year from June to November we have numerous cyclones (ciclones) that pass through our island, but, luckily, in Cuba we have the infrastructure in place to efficiently deal with these hazards. 

Tweet by Cuba’s Defensa Civil informing of 

Tropical Storm Eta moving away from the island.

In Cuba, going through your daily life might be a hassle as practically nothing works as it should, but if there is one thing (besides healthcare and education) that works fairly well is the way the government prepares for and deals with our many tropical storms. The organization in charge of preparing for natural hazards is called Defensa Civil (Civil Defense) and they are a sort of hybrid organization that is led by the army with community leaders and volunteers from all provinces and municipalities. This organization functions at a national level as they make plans to prepare the country for the hurricanes, and it also works at a provincial and municipal level to ensure that all communities are protected. 

Municipalities of Havana

Provinces of Cuba

La Defensa Civil works with 3 goals in the following order:

1. To prevent loss of life

2. To prevent damage to personal property

3. To mitigate damage to government property

There is an emphasis placed on preventing loss of life in the face of natural disasters, and this emphasis has paid off as there are very few to no deaths in Cuba each hurricane season. Cuba's way for dealing with disasters has been touted by the UN as a "Model in Hurricane Risk Management." Salvano  Briceno, the UN's  Director of the International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction in 2004, went so far as to say that "The Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does."

I remember growing up in Havana with numerous storms and subsequent flooding every year, but it was never a frightful experience. In May and June it was usual for me to see members of the Defensa Civil on the streets cutting branches of trees that were near power cables. There were announcements on the television explaining the course of the storm, measures that were being taken to prevent extensive damage, and notices about what one should do to prepare for the storm. We were all well aware of what to do in case of a ciclón: store water and food, charge batteries, and prepare to be without electricity for a few days.

The earliest cyclone I can recall (by name) was Gustav in 2008. I remember spending this hurricane at my grandparents’ house. The streets outside flooded, the power went out, and a branch from our mango tree fell onto our terraza’s roof, but that was pretty much the extent of it for us in Havana. 

Satellite image of  Hurricane Gustav south of Cuba

Other provinces, such as Pinar del Rio in the west, were hard-hit by the storm with more than 90,000 houses being damaged. The government had to evacuate more than 240,000 people, but no deaths were reported. 

Those that are evacuated after a hurricane are put up in government housing until new houses can be built for them or until the government can provide them with the materials to repair their houses, adding to the current housing crisis in Cuba. 

References:

“CUBA: A MODEL IN HURRICANE RISK MANAGEMENT | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases.”

United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/press/en/2004/iha943.doc.htm.

 

Franks, Jeff. “Cuba Says Gustav Damaged More than 90,000 Houses.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 2

Sept. 2008, www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0132528820080902.

“Hurricane Gustav Hits Cuba.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 30 Aug. 2008, 

www.theguardian.com/world/2008/aug/30/naturaldisasters.caymanislands.