Hurricane Irma, with its destructive force, lashed against our island for more than 72 hours, from the morning of September 8 until the afternoon of Sunday 10. With winds that surpassed at times the 250 kilometers per hour, it traveled almost all the north of the country. However, by the vastness of its size practically no territory was spared of its effects.
Qualified by experts as the largest hurricane formed in the Atlantic, this meteorological phenomenon caused severe damage to the country, with effects on housing, the electro energetic system and agriculture. The president of the National Defense Council, General of Army Raúl Castro Ruz warned that the present cyclone season that extends until November 30, has been described as intense, and is an obvious product of climate change.
In these difficult circumstances has prevailed the unity of Cubans, solidarity among neighbors, the discipline to the guidelines issued by the national staff of Civil Defense and Defense Councils at all levels, the professionalism of the specialists of the Institute of Meteorology, the immediacy of our media and its journalists, the support of the mass organizations, as well as the cohesion of the governing bodies of the National Defense Council.
One principle remains immovable: the Revolution will leave no one unprotected and measures are already being adopted to ensure that no Cuban family is left to their fate.
The President of the National Defense Council, General of Army Raúl Castro Ruz, headed on Wednesday night , 13 a meeting with leaders of the party, state and government, which assessed the damage caused by Hurricane Irma and they pointed out the actions to be developed during the recovery stage.
Raúl Castro recognized the hard work deployed in each of the places affected by the devastating meteorological event and summoned to continue working tirelessly, to confront the problems with serenity and keep the people informed by all possible ways about the situation faced by the country.
General precision and updation
Civil Defense
The trajectory of this hurricane through several provinces forced to evacuate a 1,738,000 people, of them 86% in houses of neighbors and relatives. At this moment more than 26000 remain in the evacuation centers.
Unfortunately it is reported the loss of ten human lives in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Camagüey and Ciego de Ávila.
Energy
The strongest impact was on the energy generation sector. It is difficult to solve the effects of the Antonio Guiteras Thermal Power Plant, of Matanzas, whose house of circulation of seawater, the key in the cooling system, was destroyed by the waves.
In addition, 15 transmission lines suffered breakdowns and more than 3600 poles and 2039 kilometers of lines were affected.
Around 90 Oil wells, located on the north coast of the west and central, were also damaged by the strong swell that caused the hurricane.
The major efforts to restore electrical service are concentrated in the provinces of Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila, territories with the most complex affectations.
Construction
The country has mobilized more than 20400 builders and 855 engineering machines, destined for the collection of rubble, the repair of vials, bridges and sewers, as well as the repair of houses and social works.
The biggest affections are concentrated in the house, especially in the ceilings. They are working to help the victims, for which asbestos cement and shingle factories are producing at full capacity. To this endeavor will be added in the next days the factory of Infinite Texas of Camagüey
Agriculture
The most serious damage in agriculture is concentrated in the poultry area, as dozens of vessels destined for the production of eggs lost their roofs. Feed production, banana and maize crops and fruit trees have also been affected.
Public Health
The health system maintained its vitality during the passage of the hurricane and so far there are no outbreaks of communicable diseases in the evacuation centers or in any territory.
A total of 516 health units suffered damage.
Tourism
Solo in the keys of Santa Maria, Coco and Guillermo had to be evacuated about ten thousand tourists.
Work is being done on recovering damaged infrastructures, which will be ready for the start of the high season, which begins in the first fortnight of November.
International solidarity
As it has been customary every time a meteorological phenomenon strikes us, there are many samples of solidarity received from all over the world. Heads of State and Government, political organizations and friends of the solidarity movements have expressed the will to help us, for which we thank on behalf of the more than eleven million Cubans.