By Alejandra Garcia on November 16, 2024
Havana, photo: Bill Hackwell
Today, Havana, the capital of all Cubans celebrates its 505th anniversary amidst tremendous efforts by society and the government to rebuild the city from the devastation caused by Hurricane Rafael. At the beginning of November, the category 4 meteorological event left a desolate panorama as it passed through the western part of the island. The force of its winds brought down trees and electric poles and caused the collapse of the national electric system (SNE).
“The great hero of this contingency has once again been the people. From the first hours after Rafael’s departure from Cuban territory, men, women, and children took to the streets to clean and trim trees, and help the neediest, those living in vulnerable conditions. There is no better way to honor this city,” Havana Governor Yanet Hernandez said recently on the TV program Mesa Redonda.
Fifteen days after Rafael, there are neighborhoods in the West and, especially in Havana, that still do not have electric service. “The affectation has been enormous, but the greatest challenge for workers in the electricity sector came after the SEN was reconnected,” she said and reported that in Havana alone, 19 kilometers of lines, more than 177 poles, and more than 90 transformer banks were affected.
“At this minute 99% of the population already has electricity, but there is much to be done yet. The problems persist in Boyeros, La Lisa, and Arroyo Naranjo. For this reason, the recovery work continues without rest. Some men and women still will not return home and to their loved ones until the service is fully recovered,” The director of the Electric Company for the municipality in Playa, Havana, added.
And Havana is not alone in its efforts. Brigades from nine provinces arrived almost immediately to help restore electricity and telephone service in the centuries-old capital; And also in the collection of debris, which has piled up since the passage of the hurricane in almost every corner of the city.
“We are aware that we have not solved the issue of solid and urban waste in the capital, but what is being done today we could not have done a long time ago. There is a significant expenditure on fuel and the use of human resources. Up to now, about 106,450 cubic meters of solid waste have been collected. We aspire to have a more beautiful Havana each time a setback like this hapens,” Hernandez pointed out.
Regarding the water service in the capital, Yosvanys Rubi Bazayl, general director of Aguas de La Habana, pointed out that one of the main problems affecting this service was caused by the failure of the SEN, which prevented the operation of the 200 pumping equipment that supplies the city and requires electricity for their operation. “Our priority has been to supply Havana’s 52 hospitals with water pipes. Not with the volumes they demand, but for their essential works,” he said and added that there are still localities where service has not been re-established.
The city did not stop even under the most extreme conditions. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel made it clear in statements to the press: “We are standing, not as many people tried to show in the international press by saying that Cuba was in a total collapse. We are standing, we are fighting, and we are going to come out of this as we have come out of other hard circumstances. There are the young people committed to their Revolution, to their people. This unity, which is very difficult to see in other parts of the world, is the reason for our victories”.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – US