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In this photo released by Granma, men play dominoes in the middle of a flooded
street as others pull broken furniture from calf-high water in the aftermath of
Hurricane Irma, in Havana. Juvenal Balan AP
CUBA
Cuba announces program to repair Irma-damaged homes as experts assess damage to
economy
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD AND NORA GAMEZ TORRES
mwhitefield@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 6:22 PM
Cuba has announced plans to help its citizens recover from Hurricane Irma’s
devastating swipe at its north coast and rebuild their homes.
Drawing on recovery lessons from recent hurricanes Sandy and Matthew, the
government said it would finance 50 percent of the cost of construction
materials for Irma victims who lost their homes or sustained heavy damages —
with a few caveats. Defense councils will certify the extent of damages and the
resources necessary to make repairs.
To acquire construction materials, victims will be able to request
low-interest, long-term loans, according to a notice that appeared in Granma,
the newspaper of Cuba’s Communist Party.
For homes that collapsed or lost their entire roofs, the state will take over
interest payments. Defense councils also will consider subsidies for victims
whose incomes are too low to purchase all the required construction materials.
Those who still owe money on construction loans for previous programs also may
be granted subsidies.
As Hurricane Irma raked the island from the eastern tip to Havana in the west,
10 people lost their lives and many homes were lost or damaged by high winds
and coastal flooding. This past weekend the government encouraged people to
clean streets and the interior of their homes and courtyards affected by
floodwaters to prevent the spread of disease.
ACN, the Cuban news agency, reported Monday that a contingent of 200 linemen
from Havana headed to Villa Clara province to help restore electrical service.
Primary transmission networks have been restored in Havana, and work on
secondary electrical networks in the capital is almost completed, Mercedes
López Acea, president of the Havana Defense Council, told reporters.
The hurricane couldn’t have come at a worse time for Cuba as the all-important
winter tourism season approaches, its benefactor Venezuela struggles to supply
oil, and other areas of the economy aren’t doing particularly well.
Although damages were particularly acute in the central Cuban provinces where
Irma made landfall Sept. 8, Cuban officials have emphasized that in one way or
another, due to lost crops, damaged infrastructure and other factors, the
entire country has been affected.
Hurricane Irma moves through the coast of Cuba as it veers toward Florida
Satellite imagery shows Hurricane Irma moving through Cuba before it veers
toward Florida on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017.
NOAA
“With the passage of the hurricane, I’m convinced that GDP will be negative,”
said economist Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a professor emeritus at the University of
Pittsburgh.
The economy grew by 1.1 percent, largely buoyed by record tourism numbers,
during the first six months of the year, according to the Cuban government. But
that could dip below zero by year’s end, said Mesa-Lago.
In 2008, when three hurricanes caused about $10 million in damages in Cuba, the
more negative effects were felt the following year.
“In 2008, the economy had grown 4.1 percent and in 2009, that was down to 1.4
percent — that is to say that the cost of the whole situation was GDP growth
that was 2.7 points lower that year,” said Pavel Vidal, a Cuban economist who
is a professor at Javeriana University in Colombia.
Disasters such as hurricanes can have lasting repercussions. Hurricanes Ike,
Gustav and Paloma, which hit Cuba in 2008, caused an increase in the price of
food, liquidity problems at banks and destabilization of the Convertible Cuban
Peso, the money used for international and tourism transactions and by some
state enterprises, said Vidal.
The damage caused by Irma, he said, may pump up inflation and cause “financial
complications.”
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“A favorable element is that the global economy is passing through a better
time and the Cuban economy is weighted more toward the private and cooperative
sector [now], and given more freedom, they could contribute in a greater
proportion to the recovery.”
Follow Mimi Whitefield on Twitter: @HeraldMimi
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