Guantanamo.- Inés María Chapman Waugh, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Cuba, evaluated with the Municipal Defense Council of San Antonio del Sur, on the night of this Monday, October 21, the actions to be followed after the passage of tropical storm Oscar, which left a preliminary balance of six deaths and considerable material damage.
Accompanied by Alis Azahares Torreblanca, Vice President of the Provincial Defense Council, Chapman Waugh called for “preserving life as the main task, because it continues to rain. The other thing is to manage to bring to the population the food that is already in the territory and the water.
“We must work with the population so that they know that they are not alone. We must go house to house and talk to people, give them strength to face all this and carry out the damage assessment,” said Chapman Waugh.
Yoandris Ortiz Cintra, President of the Municipal Defense Council, explained that the magnitude of what happened with these floods is unprecedented and the cause of it must be investigated.
“We are addressing the problems and when the weather conditions allow it, together with the distribution of food and water that arrive from the provincial capital, the care of the evacuees and the beginning of the recovery, we must begin this Tuesday the assessment of all the damages,” said Ortiz Cintra.
According to the President of the Municipal Defense Council, in the territory the main effects are not with the houses, because the winds were not strong. María Chapman 2021 4Inés María Chapman Waugh toured some of the affected facilities. The floods are not strong, but there are furniture, equipment, clothes and other objects inside the houses, which were affected by the flood. There is also great damage in agriculture that must be assessed.
In the Council, all the subgroups have been activated since before Oscar passed and they are working together to get out of the current situation. For the moment, on Monday night, Etecsa Enterprise had already managed to recover communication by landline in the municipality’s capital and by cell phones and landline in the popular council of Guaibanó.
Even the town of San Antonio del Sur can now be reached by land, despite several trees and earth movements on the road. In the case of the road that follows Imías, there are damages on the road that make it impossible to pass.
In statements to the press, the Vice Prime Minister recognized the organization of the work team in San Antonio del Sur and the support of the authorities of the province. I see the authorities working tirelessly, despite the fact that many have serious damages in their homes.
“We have been able to see the work of the evacuation commission, attentive to the people who are in evacuation centers and trying to be clear about those who are at the homes of relatives and friends. In addition to bottled water, tanker trucks are already arriving to supply the population. The Health team is working to recover the 6th Congress of the Party Polyclinic, which was flooded by the waters and is full of mud.
The IV Congress of the Party polyclinic is one of the facilities that must be recovered soon.
For her part, the Vice President of the Provincial Defense Council explained what happened in the municipality that in just three hours more than 200 millimeters of water fell and that it happened in the early hours of the morning, there being a large-scale flood that surprised everyone.
“We arrived at the municipality a few hours after the event and we worked with the FAR and the Minint in the protection of the population. Something that helped prevent major problems was the solidarity among the locals. We have sadly six dead and the conditions for their burials have already been created.
“So far we have identified an impact on 6 thousand people and 4 thousand familyunits. Starting this Tuesday we will continue to assess damages in order to make decisions within the recovery. Food is already being distributed for the entire population and other products should arrive.
“This Tuesday we will try to go to Imías to find out and give information about what has happened there – Yoel Pérez García, president of the Provincial Defense Council, has been in that territory since Monday. There are two municipalities also affected, Baracoa and Maisí, with more than 2 thousand homes and 200 state facilities affected.
“Agriculture suffered great damage and we are quantifying it. The electrical damage in Maisí and Baracoa is being evaluated and we already have 200 linemen from other provinces in Guantánamo to recover the electrical wiring as quickly as possible.).
