to see how Cuba handles the situation. As I recall, they also experienced devastating storms in 2005 but had very few, if any, storm-related deaths because they had facilities and procedures in place to deal with that eventuality.
Heckuva job, Fidelito!
Oh, wait, he's not one of "us," is he.. . . . . . . :sarcasm:
Edited to add, from September 2005:
Bush administration snubs Cuban hurricane relief offer
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/cuba-s09.shtml<snip>
In a lame attempt at irony, White House press spokesman Scott McClellan dodged a question about the administration’s response to the Cuban offer by declaring, “We would certainly hope that Castro would offer freedom to his people.”
It is hardly likely that many Cubans would like to experience the “freedom” offered to disaster victims of New Orleans, who were left free to die in the streets and who are now being forcibly evicted from their homes and relocated to shelters that have all the characteristics of detention camps. They, like the rest of the world, have watched in horror the images of babies and old people dying from official neglect in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
Cuba, an impoverished island nation that has been subjected to a 45-year economic blockade by successive US governments, stands in stark contrast to the US when it comes to disaster prevention and relief. While officials in Washington are continuing the refrain that no one could have foreseen the hurricane and suggesting that those left in New Orleans and other disaster areas are responsible for their own deaths, the Cuban authorities have proven in practice that such tragedies are avoidable.
Last July, Cuba weathered Hurricane Dennis and in September of last year Hurricane Ivan—two of the most powerful storms to strike the Caribbean in the last century. In the case of Dennis, just 16 people died amid massive damage to island, while Ivan claimed not a single victim. In both cases,
Cuba succeeded in evacuating more than 1.5 million people, emptying out entire flood-prone coastal areas. People were provided buses to pre-arranged shelters staffed with medical personnel and stocked with food and water, as well as to private homes that took in the evacuees.Cuba boasts of an extensive and well-organized civil defense system, free public health care and an extensive education program in relation to hurricanes, all of which—as Katrina made so painfully clear on the Gulf Coast—are lacking in the US.
(emphasis mine)
<end snip>
It should also be noted that many of those "evacuated" from New Orleans in 2005 are still homeless and displaced, that the city has not been rebuilt, that medical care is still lacking, that education is in shambles, and on and on and on.
Of course, this article is from the World Socialist Web Site, which we know is written by a bunch of lying pinko commie scumbags. . . . . . :sarcasm: and :-(
Tansy Gold, who has been accused more than once of being cubana