Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero urged accelerating recovery efforts following Hurricane Melissa’s passage through eastern Cuba, local media reported on Tuesday.
During a meeting to review the progress of the recovery efforts, led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Marrero emphasized the need to prioritize the reconstruction of damaged homes.
The Prime Minister also demanded “exhaustive control” of the materials delivered for these efforts, according to reports published in Granma and Juventud Rebelde.
Several ministers participated in the assessment, and the governors of Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Granma, Las Tunas, and Holguín—provinces affected by the storm—appeared to explain the situations in their respective territories.
In addition to the construction and repair of homes, efforts in the towns damaged by Tropical Storm Melissa are focused on increasing food production and restoring basic services, according to press reports.
Both newspapers highlight the intervention of Health Minister José Angel Portal, who explained that “of the 710 institutions affected in the five provinces, 185 have already been repaired, 27 of them in the last week.”
“Currently, work is underway at 29 facilities; the main damage is related to carpentry, false ceilings, and leaks,” Portal stated, according to the sources.
She also stated that “active case finding among the population in those provinces has been increased, with special emphasis on at-risk groups,” and that “vector control measures are being intensified” to prevent an epidemiological crisis in the region.
At the meeting, held yesterday afternoon, “the situation unfolding” in areas of Villa Clara affected by heavy rains over the weekend was reviewed.
The governor of that central Cuban province, Milaxy Yanet Sánchez, reported that “more than 253 millimeters of rain accumulated in just a few hours, causing severe flooding in communities in the municipalities of Sagua la Grande and Cifuentes.”
She explained that “753 people were evacuated, the vast majority to the homes of family, neighbors, or friends,” and reported damage to road infrastructure, among other issues
