Attachments
This report has been prepared by the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Cuba, with the support of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Covers the period from 12:00 noon from 10 November to 12:00 until 11 November, 12 noon (local time)
Summary
• Less than 20 days after hurricanes Oscar and Rafael affected Cuba, two strong earthquakes - one of 6 degrees and another of 6.7 on the Richter scale - impacted eastern Cuba on Sunday, leaving injuries, significant damage to buildings and landslides.
• Preliminarily, as a result of the earthquakes, press reports confirm four injuries, about 200 partial collapses and several total collapses, although the impacts on people, livelihoods and materials are still to be quantified.
• In Granma, the territory most impacted by these events, 14 thousand customers are reported without electricity service, in a complex national energy context.
• Almost a week after the impact of Hurricane Rafael, more than 98% of the province of Artemisa is still without electricity, which implies strong tensions for access to drinking water, food storage and the operation of other basic services.
• 113 of the 178 health institutions damaged by Hurricane Rafael belong to Artemisa, which would make it more complex to respond to possible adverse epidemiological or health scenarios. Ten more institutions were affected by the earthquakes, in Granma and Santiago de Cuba.
• 338 schools have different effects nationwide, associated with the different events mentioned, within a context where the resumption of teaching activities has been announced.
• Authorities prioritize the restoration of electricity and telecommunications, the recovery of water supply and sanitation in all affected territories.
Overview of the situation
After more than 20 days facing the effects of hurricanes Rafael and Oscar, and an energy emergency that impacted the entire national territory, two strong earthquakes – one of 6 degrees and another of 6.7 on the Richter scale – impacted eastern Cuba on Sunday, leaving four people injured, significant damage to buildings and landslides.
According to the National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS), more than 800 aftershocks were recorded, 76 of them perceptible. It warns that new aftershocks could occur repeatedly until the end of the year. The main damage is reported in the south of the province of Granma – the closest to the epicenters of the earthquakes – but also in other territories such as the capital itself, Bayamo, and the neighboring province of Santiago de Cuba.
So far, there have been three total collapses and more than 200 partial collapses, cracks in buildings, falling poles and other effects on the electrical infrastructure, which left more than 14 thousand customers without service. Education and health infrastructures were also damaged, and buildings of heritage value such as the legendary Cabo Cruz Lighthouse, more than 150 years old, which suffered cracks and cracks on several levels.
On the other side of the country, in the West, press descriptions of Hurricane Rafael eloquently describe the seriousness of the damage: "banana plantations devastated, yucca trees bedridden, crops destroyed, irrigation machines overturned, agricultural and industrial buildings threadbare, family houses with blown roofs and collapsed walls, mountains of tree debris..."
Only 1.46% of Artemisa's circuits have electricity, which complicates the water supply situation, and generates tensions for the operation of the rest of the basic services.
The Telecommunications Company estimates that in that province more than 21,000 fixed telephony services will be affected and at least 64 mobile phone sites, as well as fiber optic cuts in several municipalities. In addition to the above, the Artemisa telecenter suffered serious damage to the new studios, which were in the process of construction.
In the most affected municipalities of Guantánamo, tensions remain in access to drinking water, taking into account the serious damage to aqueducts caused by the floods, made more complex by the deficits in electricity generation, which prevent stability in the pumping of water.