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Hurricane Charley caused losses in excess of one
billion dollars
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More than 70,000 homes totally or partially
destroyed
plus thousands of hectares of cultivated
land
BY ANETT RIOS JAUREGUI—Granma
daily staff writer—
DURING yesterday’s Informative
Roundtable Pedro Sáez Montejo, first secretary of
the Party in City of Havana, quantified the damage
inflicted on Cuba by Hurricane Charley at more than
one billion dollars, a figure that could grow even
larger.
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Of the
73,584 homes affected, 4,177 were completely
destroyed. In the photo, a man looks for something
among the rubble left by the hurricane. |
Sáez noted that Charley’s
significant impact on the economy of the western
part of the island can principally be summed up by
its damage to more than 70,000 homes and thousands
of hectares of cultivated land, plus grave effects
on the electricity (1,400 poles, 28 high-tension
towers and 291 transformers brought down), water and
telephone services. In the two Havana provinces the
damage includes 798 educational centers, 312 health
centers, 60 sports installations and 63 cultural
ones.
More than 31,000 homes in the
capital were affected, 469 of them being totally
destroyed. Juan Contino, president of the city
government, stated that 852 people are still in
temporary accommodation. He estimated that more than
8,000 trees were brought down and more than 500,000
cubic meters of rubble collected, but the volume is
enormous and the task is not as yet over. There will
be another popular mobilization next weekend to
continue with this labor.
Iván Ordaz, first secretary of
the Party in Habana province, said that there are
still 12,690 evacuees, and an estimated 3,127
economic installations and 41,236 homes damaged.
Communications have been restored in 6,000 of the
approximately 8,150 services affected, while 48% of
consumers in the province have power.
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