Guamá, Santiago de Cuba.–The President of the National Defense Council (CDN), Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, began his second day of touring eastern Cuba in this municipality, where Hurricane Melissa made landfall and struck with full destructive force, in many places combining the waters of the sea with those of the rivers.
The president arrived in Santiago de Cuba on Tuesday night from Río Cauto, Granma, and immediately held a meeting with the Provincial Defense Council to assess the recovery efforts in the area most damaged by the winds and rains of the storm.
On Wednesday morning, together with Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of organization of the Party's Central Committee, a team of ministers and deputy ministers, and the main authorities of Santiago de Cuba, he traveled along the Granma Highway to Babujal. At this point, the road connecting the city of Santiago de Cuba with Pilón was cut off by the combined force of winds, rains, and waves.
Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, president of the Provincial Defense Council of Santiago de Cuba, explained to Díaz-Canel that, from there and two other similar landslides further on, it is impossible to travel by road to the communities of Palma Mocha, La Cueva, and La Plata, which have been cut off since Melissa passed through, making it necessary to send food and medicine by helicopter.
The Cuban president spoke with the first deputy minister of construction, Ángel Vilaragut, and with heads of local construction companies about the strategy to restore the road as soon as possible because, he said, "now Guamá is divided in two."
Díaz-Canel also checked the condition of the road at the Uvero Bridge, which was rendered impassable after a sinkhole opened up at the eastern entrance. However, a specialized brigade is already working to fill it in, although a detour had to be set up to ensure traffic flow.
The president called for the reinforcement of the construction engineering brigades and for a lasting solution to be found for this beautiful road between the Caribbean Sea and the Sierra Maestra, so that it can withstand the impacts of future extreme weather events.
He also spoke with residents of the Aserradero People's Council, a community where the eye of the hurricane lingered for 35 to 40 minutes, and where materials are already arriving to repair the affected homes.
The construction supplies include 2,500 fiber cement tiles, a boost to advancing the solution to the main problem facing the local housing stock, where 938 of its 1,932 homes were damaged, according to Norelvis Pérez Sánchez, president of the People's Council.
In Aserradero, people are still in shock, so the Head of State asked everyone to work together, little by little, to restore this historic area of the country to its natural beauty, as well as the idiosyncrasy and joy of a population that has the unique privilege of living between the sea and the mountains.
A little further on, in the small village of Cojímar, all 187 houses were affected, and residents are now immersed in the recovery effort.
They are working together in an atmosphere of great solidarity, both to repair roofs and to cook food—especially the traditional caldosa soup—accompanied by music and the contagious joy of the people.
For the locals, it was very important that the President of the Republic himself stopped to spend some time with them, to encourage them and to share in the confidence that no one here will be left helpless.
The residents recounted the difficult early morning of October 29 and the days that followed. They embraced him and thanked him for being there, for the help they had received, and took the opportunity to send, above all, an affectionate greeting to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, "who loves this humble people so much," as one of the venerable ladies of the neighborhood put it.
IN EL COBRE
The iconic town of El Cobre today presents a desolate picture due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. The Cuban president also visited the town and called on everyone to participate in the recovery effort.
The work of specialized brigades, the FAR, and the Minint to restore one of the most emblematic sites of Cuban nationality to its former glory is visible. However, the layers of sandstone left behind by the overflowing river, the partial or total loss of roofs on numerous homes, and the felling and burning of urban trees and surrounding undergrowth continue to bear witness to the magnitude of the hurricane, as well as to how much has been done and how much remains to be done, as some damage cannot be repaired immediately.
Fifty-two percent of the homes in El Cobre suffered damage, especially to roofs, which here are mostly made of tiles and zinc. However, one week after the hydrometeorological event, the administrative office is working diligently and the building materials sales point is being restocked; 31 families already have their documentation ready to purchase materials.
El Cobre is home to some 17,000 people, who, together with those living in the surrounding villages—also severely affected—number more than 30,000 inhabitants. The impression of the locals is that Melissa was much stronger than Sandy, another major natural phenomenon that challenged the lives of the people of Santiago.
Díaz-Canel inquired about the damage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, where work has already begun, while arrangements are being made for technical cooperation from the Office of the Historian of Havana for the restoration of its centuries-old stained glass windows.
The parish, for its part, is supporting the neighborhood by supplying drinking water and recharging cell phone batteries, among other actions. The town is providing similar assistance, dedicating two small power plants to charge cell phones and lamps, as well as nearly a hundred residents who have put their power plants at the service of their neighbors.
In the midst of the emergency, whose ravages are still raw, support and solidarity have not stopped in El Cobre.
In conversation with the President, residents expressed their gratitude for what has been done, but also voiced their dissatisfaction, such as the need to reach remote communities more quickly and resolve problems that had accumulated before the hurricane, such as the drinking water service to a small nearby community.
