Cuba Reiterates the Offer of Medical Help to US

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Cuba Reiterates the Offer of Medical Help to the US

Granma.cu
September 5, 2005

La Habana.- PRESIDENT Fidel Castro last night reiterated Cuba’s disposition to help Hurricane Katrina victims in spite of the silence of Washington regarding Cuba’s aid offer.

Fidel met on Sunday evening with 1,586 doctors toting backpacks filled with medicine and essential equipment for treating people in emergency conditions like those in the region lashed by the hurricane in the neighboring country.

The president said that Cuba had fulfilled its commitment, confirmed by the rapid constitution of the medical force to aid those affected by Katrina in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

He noted that because of its proximity to the affected areas, it was possible for Cuba to send 1,100 doctors to save people in danger of dying, but the number of those called up had risen to 1,586.

"Forty-eight hours have passed, and we have not received any response to our offer," he noted. "We will wait patiently for as long as it takes," he added.

If no response arrives, or if Cuba’s cooperation were not necessary, it would not be any cause for discouragement among our ranks, he added.

"Very much on the contrary, we would be satisfied that we had fulfilled our duty, and extremely happy to know that not one more U.S. citizen out of those who suffered the painful and treacherous blow of Hurricane Katrina would die without medical attention, if that were to be the cause for our doctors’ absence," he affirmed.

During the meeting, and at the proposal of Fidel, the group of doctors was named the Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, in honor of a man from the United States who gave his life during the first Cuban Independence War against the Spanish colonial power.

The Cuban president stated that in this kind of situation, it didn’t matter how rich a country might be, or the number of its scientists or technical advances. "What is required at this moment is a team of young, well-trained professionals who, with a minimum of resources, can be sent where human beings are in danger of dying."

He affirmed that in the case of Cuba, being geographically close to the affected areas, the circumstances were appropriate for offering aid to the U.S. people.
He explained that each one of the doctors was equipped with two backpacks full of medicines and essential equipment for diagnosing and treating many different diseases.

Cuba has more than 130,000 health professionals, he noted, of whom more than 25,000 are on international missions in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
The medical brigade standing ready to go to the United States includes 1,097 specialists in comprehensive general medicine; 351 general and intensive care doctors; 72 with specialties in more than one area, and 66 specialists in cardiology, pediatrics, surgery, gastroenterology and other areas.

The Cuban medical brigade members have an average of 10 years of professional experience and an average age of 32.


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Cuba's success in minimising loss of life during Hurricane Michelle

Granma.cu
September 2, 2005

The Guardian (London) - Socialism and storms: Cuba's success in minimising loss of life during Hurricane Michelle highlights the social dimension of coping with natural disasters

Ben Wisner

Hurricane Michelle was a category 3 storm. It hit land at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast, where the ill-fated CIA-backed invasion failed decades ago, with winds of 216km/hr. The storm travelled north across the island, damaging 22,400 homes and destroying 2,800. It damaged agriculture, industry and infrastructure in five provinces in the western half of the island, as well as Havana. It was the worst hurricane to hit Cuba since 1944.

But only five deaths have so far been reported: four from the collapse of structures and one drowning. By contrast, when Michelle traveled through Central America in a weaker form, 10 people died and another 26 are listed alives were lost in Central America during hurricane Mitch, a disaster whose fatal effects could have been largely prevented. How did Cuba save lives? The most important factor seems to be timely evacuation. Roughly 700,000 people were evacuated out of Cuba's 11m population. This is quite a feat given Cuba's dilapidated fleet of vehicles, fuel shortage and poor road system. It was possible only because of advance preparations and planning, a cadre of local personnel, trust in warnings given and cooperation with the Red Cross.

In Havana the electricity was turned off to avoid deaths or injuries from electrocution, and the tap water supply was turned off in case of possible contamination. Reports say that Havana's population was advised to store water and food, and that they largely complied. They also helped clear debris which could have become dangerous if lifted by strong winds from streets. Cuban state television broadcasts included references to the 1932 hurricane that had killed more than 3,000.

These preparations point to an effective risk communication system, a historical memory of past disasters actively encouraged by the authorities, neighbourhood-based organisations capable of mobilising labour and trust on the part of the general population.

Havana is a city of 2m with a history of deaths due to hurricanes. In
1844, 500 lost their lives in Havana. In 1866 the death toll in the city was 600 and in 1944 there were 330 fatalities and 269 collapsed buildings. But 2001 was not the first time that preparations had saved lives. In 1996 some historic buildings were destroyed due to hurricane Lili, but no one died.

Does socialism help? In 1978 I published a letter in the journal Disasters calling for a systematic comparison of socialist and non-socialist countries' success in mitigating the human impacts of extreme natural events. I contrasted the small loss of life from drowning or subsequent disease during large floods in the Red river delta of Vietnam with the estimated huge loss of life calculated by the US military planners when they were preparing to bomb the Red river's levees and dikes. I suggested researchers look carefully at preparedness, mitigation and recovery in socialist countries such as China, Cuba, the USSR, Somalia and Mozambique.

Today three of these countries no longer claim to be socialist; indeed, Somalia is arguably still without a viable central government following years of civil war, and some consider Mozambique to be a ward of overseas donors. I still believe that my 1978 question is relevant to disas ter research. It is not ideological but practical. If further systematic comparative study shows that public expenditure on human needs (healthcare, education, public housing, utility subsidies for low income people) and infrastructure does save lives in extreme events, this is an important finding. I don't care whether it's called socialism or good governance.

Comparisons shouldn't necessarily be among so-called communist states (contemporary or historical studies) and so-called capitalist ones.

Indeed, city by city comparisons might also be very revealing. The ideological orientation of the national government may not be the most important factor.

The systematic study would require a careful and precise definition of the elements one is looking for. These are mostly likely to include self-help and citizen-based social protection at the neighbourhood level, trust between the authorities and the population, investment in basic needs and social capital such as the training of neighbourhood activists, investment in capable and transparently operating government institutions for prevention and mitigation of disaster risk, investment in scientific capacity such as Havana's weather institute and public health services, an effective risk communication system and institutionalised historical memory of disasters.

Cuba may not have all of these and it may not be socialism that has
provided Cuba with the ability to save lives in hurricanes. It may be more complicated than that. I'd hypothesise that more people die of hypothermia each year in Scotland than in Finland as rate of population in an age group.

This is not because Finland is socialist, but because of the kinds of public spending priorities in Finland associated with European social-democracy rather than the minimalist welfare apparatus left in Britain since the assault on the welfare state began in the early 80s.

Whatever the reasons, Cuba has lessons for the rest of us. What a shame it is officially excluded from the Organisation of American States, and will not be represented at the upcoming Hemispheric Disaster Risk Reduction conference, where experts from the other states will talk about how to save lives.

Dr Ben Wisner is a disaster expert from Oberlin College, Ohio, and a visiting research fellow at the Development Studies Institute, LSE.


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