Venezuela´s President Hugo Chavez also expressed his will to send humanitarian aid to Cuba, as well as Colombia´s Alvaro Uribe, who was also interested in learning about the damage inflicted on Cuba by Gustav, Granma newspaper reported.
The Russian aid began arriving in Havana this week in huge cargo planes. President Medvedev said his country will prioritize the implementation of bilateral accords with Cuba in the field of electricity. Preliminary information on the damage indicates that housing and the electric system were the most affected sectors.
Over 100, 000 homes were partially or totally destroyed, while the electric distribution system in the Isle of Youth was totally destroyed. Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro wrote an article this week in which he compares the impact by Gustav on Cuba to a nuclear bomb, due to the devastation produced in western Cuba.
Gustav hit western Cuba during four hours with 250-kilometer-per-hour winds and gusts of up to 320 km. In Havana, Gustav produced some damage in the electricity distribution infrastructure, though the capital city was very lucky that the storm did not hit it directly.
Heads of governments of many countries have expressed their solidarity with Cuba and have offered assistance to contribute the recovery from the damage. During their phone conversation, Raul Castro and Dimitri Medvedev agreed that bilateral relation between Moscow and Havana are experiencing expansion.
HURRICANE GUSTAV: UNFORGETTABLE EPISODE OF NATURE
Hurricane Gustav hard hit western Cuba last August 30 after having left a death toll of more than 78 deaths in the Caribbean . Although Gustav inflicted huge material damage on Cuba , including 100, 000 homes, no deaths were reported.
The winds and rains of the category 4 hurricane affected different areas of Cuban national territory, but it made its worst impact on the Isle of Youth, south of Havana, and in western Pinar del Rio province.
By the time Gustav was being expected in Cuba , authorities and the people had taken important precaution measures, which definitely avoided the loss of human lives. More than 250, 000 people were evacuated to safe places in the four western Cuban provinces and in the Isle of Youth.
Saturday afternoon, the eye of Gustav crossed over the northern section of the Isle of Youth, which lasted an hour, the front part of the hurricane caused significant damage. Few hours later, Gustav made its landfall on the southern coast of the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio at about 6:00 pm, with winds of over 200 kilometers per hour. It created a national record with gusts of 340 Km/H reported in the locality of El Paso Real de San Diego .
The most affected areas in the westernmost province of Cuba were Bahia Honda, Minas de Matahambre, Consolacion del Sur, San Cristóbal and Candelaria.
THE ISLE OF YOUTH
The electricity system was totally devastated and a large number of schools suffered severe damage both in their infrastructure, and teaching resources, said Municipal Defense Council president Ana Isa Delagado.
“Gustav left disaster as it passed over this territory” said the acn correspondent there Ana Esther Zulueta, minutes after the category 4 Hurricane left that special municipality, south of Havana. Ana Esther was one of the many citizens who lost their homes and all belongings during the natural phenomenon.
"We have received the combined effect of wind, rain and flooding," said our correspondent in a phone conversation with her editors. She
said that the winds reached 224 kilometers per hour with heavy rain, "but the extraordinary event was the overflowing of the Las Casas River which entered the city of Gerona , an unprecedented development, which affected homes near the river," Zulueta said.
Ivette Avila, a neighbor in Gerona City, said she had to hurry out of her home through a window with her husband and two children in order to escape the Flooding of the place, said Zulueta.
“Some trees look as if they had been burned in a fire and many houses lost their windows and doors, said the acn correspondent.”
In an article published in the Cuban press September 3, Cuban Revolution Leader recalls the impressions given by Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Major General Alvaro Lopez Miera, of the devastation by Gustav in this territory. He called it A Nuclear Strike.
PINAR DEL RIO
An estimated 86,000 homes and 372 schools were partially or totally damaged by the hurricane. Among the major agricultural losses were nearly 3,500 tobacco drying barns that collapsed and 63 poultry houses, said Olga Lidia Tapia, president of the Provincial Defense Council in the western province.
Over 80 high tension towers were brought down as well as three television and radio transmission towers, she said after the passage of the hurricane.
More than 147,900 people were evacuated in Pinar del Rio , most of them went to the homes of neighbors and relatives. “ …many have lost their homes and most have seen their belongings, beds, mattresses, TV sets, refrigerators, etc. ruined. Most of the population is in this situation, said Olga Lidia Tapia as cited by Fidel Castro in his article A Nuclear Strike.
THE RECOVERY EFFORT
Immediately after the passage of Gustav, and still with expressions of amazement in their faces due to the huge devastation, local neighbors and authorities both in the Isle of Youth and in Pinar del Rio embarked into recovery actions, convinced that the Cuban state would give them all the support they needed.
Cubans from other provinces volunteered to help in recovery plans, resources went sent from Havana , as Cuban Revolution leaders encouraged the population.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife sent a message offering their solidarity and Venezuela ’s Hugo Chavez did the same during a televised program in Caracas . Russia offered emergency assistance as well.
The recovery program in both territories will be long but effective, thanks to the determination of the people to rebuild their homes, social and economic facilities from the ruins and start over after the unforgettable episode of nature.
