- MAJOR CHANGES SINCE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE HIP
After hurricane Sandy hit Cuba, it was clear that it was a major natural disaster and that at least EUR 4 million was needed to enable DG ECHO to contribute to addressing the needs. However, at the end of the year, DG ECHO's Operational Reserve was almost exhausted and only EUR 2 million was immediately available. Therefore a further EUR 2 million was requested from the Emergency Aid Reserve, and this HIP has now been updated to include this additional amount.
- CONTEXT
Cuba, despite having one of the best disaster preparedness systems in the region (it scored 1 in the GNA(Global Humanitarian Needs Assessment) index) has suffered severe damages to infrastructure and livelihoods affecting a large portion of the Cuban population due to the passage of Hurricane Sandy.
Sandy formed as the 10th tropical depression in the Caribbean Sea, South of Jamaica on October 22nd 2012; on the 23rd it upgraded to tropical storm and on 24th it reached hurricane strength (Category 1 on the Samir-Simpson scale) hitting Jamaica, to be further upgraded to Category 2 when reaching Cuba with winds of 175 km/h and gusts up to 225 km/h. Sandy moved over Eastern Cuba at 01.00 am on the 25th.
Hurricane Sandy caused significant damages in the eastern provinces, especially in Santiago de Cuba (second largest city in the country) and Holguin. The hurricane is considered to be the most devastating one to strike the eastern provinces in the last 50 years.
300,000 people were evacuated, of which only 10% are in official evacuation centres.
Extensive damages to the agriculture sector that will have a lasting impact at national level have also been observed.
Preliminary numbers continue to increase as assessments are on-going in the most affected provinces. Damage of at least 226,600 houses has been reported (approximately 10 % of these houses are totally destroyed). Considering that in Cuba extended families often live in the same house (consisting of 3-4 generations), up to 1.35 million people could have been affected.
More than 1.5 million people still do not have access to safe water, which poses a significant sanitary risk. The challenges for the following months will be shelter rehabilitation, reparation of schools and hospitals, food distribution, food storage and reactivation of food production.