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Cuba Hit by first tornado in 80-years
February 4, 2019
Dear Friends,
Out of the dark blue of the evening of January 27, a line of
electric storms approaching Cuba from the south-west was
announced by the meteorological services. The general
interpretation was that beginning late on Sunday evening
intermittent thunderstorms would begin affecting eastern
Havana, nothing severe enough to change one’s plans to visit
friends in mid-Havana that evening.
What came to be identified as an unusual meteorological
phenomenon, including a tornado with winds of more than
300 kph, tore through fragile parts of Havana beginning at
about 8 p.m. The toll on housing, intensely in Regla and
Guanabacoa, was severe. As the tornado made its way from
the Casino Deportivo to east of Alamar, it passed through the
centre of the city, with terrifying howling winds.
Demolished or damaged homes were the major grief it brought.
This, together with crippling the electricity supplies, multiplied
the ways in which people could die or suffer serious injuries
in places that suddenly became unfamiliar. Havana suffered the
high numbers of 6 fatalities and some two hundred injured
people. 5,000 people have been evacuated from their badly
damaged houses in four Havana municipalities.
Heavy construction brigades came immediately to clear up the
trees and electrical poles and wires blocking the roads. Over the
next few days Havana’s students promptly came to help; artists
and writers carried water to where none was available, even
after the electricity had been mostly restored. (See photographs
in the online articles below.)
Hardly four weeks ago, the CCFA’s Amistad announced
the end to the CNC’s formal campaign for funds to help in the
recovery from Hurricane Irma. We thought that, with the end of
the hurricane season, Cuba would be spared, at least for some
months, the effects of new natural disasters; and here came this
insolent storm on the eve of José Martí’s birthday, coinciding
with the arrival of more than 1,000 people gathered from more
than 60 countries to participate with serious studies in the
central celebratory event.
The damage to Havana was on the minds of all of us.
Martí had written the aphorism:
It is noble to defend friendship, not forgetting,
in doing so, history and the idea of justice.
So a necessary campaign for funds against this malicious storm
and tornado has to be opened. We congratulate the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela on its sending aid to Cuba ahead of us.
Let us strive to catch up.
Cheques should be written to "CNC" with the following words
on the memo line: "Tornado Relief".
They should be mailed to:
CNC c/o Sharon Skup
56 Riverwood Terrace
Bolton ON L7E 1S4
E-transfers to be sent to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
,
please include in the message box "Tornado Relief"
and we recommend an easy password all lower case such as,
for example, which country the donations are going to help.
All the best,
Keith Ellis, CNC Cuba Relief Campaign Coordinator
Night of the storm:
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2019-01-28/la-habana-estre
mecida-28-01-2019-00-01-55
The Morning after the tornado:
https://qz.com/1536611/photos-
of-the-aftermath-of-a-rare-and-deadly-tornado-in-
havana-cuba/
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2019-01-28/30-imagenes
-de-la-habana-despues-del-tornado-28-01-2019-14-01-4
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