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| House destroyed in
Cienfuegos |
On July 7 2005 Hurricane Dennis started to hit south
of Cuba and finished its devastating spree over Cuba
around midnight of Friday 8th July. It claimed 16 lives
and caused damage to 120,000 homes which stood at
approximately $1.4 billion.
In a televised appearance, the Cuban leader Fidel
Castro stated that if it had passed directly over the
capital that total would have increased to $3 billion.
He reported that some 1,531,000 people were evacuated
throughout the country; 245,106 went into hostels and
the rest stayed with relatives.
The Cuban authorities confirmed that 16 people died
during the passing of the hurricane: 13 in Granma
province, two in Santiago de Cuba and one in Sanctí
Spíritus. A total of 120,000 homes were heavily damaged,
15,000 were totally destroyed, 25,000 partially
destroyed; 24,000 roofs were completely wrecked and
60,000 partially destroyed.
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| Santiago de Cuba electricity
posts |
In the agricultural sector, citrus plantations in the
Jagüey Grande area were affected and animals killed,
including 73,000 poultry fowl.
It was also announced that 1,025 electricity posts
were felled and 21 municipalities were left without
power. The Cienfuegos plant was functioning at 5% of its
generating capacity and that in Matanzas at 15%.
Due to the lack of electricity 2.5 million people are
lacking a direct water supply.
In terms of hotels damaged by the passing of Dennis,
the total stands at 21.
President Castro announced that plans for improving
the situation of the population include an additional
investment of $400 million for foodstuffs.
Venezuela was the first country that helped Cuba
after this disaster. It sent boat with electricity
towers, electricity materials and fuel, among other
resources for the island's recuperation. Since hurricane
Dennis heavily dented Cuba 's housing, the prime task
was to help those affected to get back their life to
normal. In that respect brigades of workers from
different sectors had been formed to travel to the
hardest-hit areas and help to repair the damages and set
the country back in motion. Various types of roofing
material had been sent out to the different provinces;
there are part of the plan to build 50,000 houses in
2005 as part of a goal of building an average of 100,000
homes per year in the years to follow.
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| Matanzas province damages |
On 11 th July 2005 president Castro established a
dialogue with the defence council presidents in each of
the most affected areas, out of which the recovery
strategy practically emerged. He noted that Cuba had
bought 220,000 tons of foodstuffs to supplement supplies
in areas affected by the hurricane, as well as for
people in the eastern region who have been suffering the
effects of a long drought. At the same time, Castro
rejected the $50,000 offered by the United States in
hurricane aid, and affirmed that even if Washington were
to offer one billion dollars, Cuba would not accept it.
He said that Cuba does accept a helping hand from
countries that are its friends, even when it hasn't
asked for such help. "And we do have friends," he
emphasized.
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Current Threats
None
