Cuba gets evacuations right

[niyad]

Lesson from Ike: Cuba gets evacuations right

HAVANA, Cuba — When Hurricane Ike struck Cuba, Ronald Matos didn't think twice about fleeing his one-room wooden house for a government shelter. The 34-year-old construction worker and his wife, Emma Jean, got soft beds, free meals, the attention of a doctor and solicitous social workers — and the companionship of other friendly Cubans. "We passed the night talking and telling stories, because Cubans never lose their smiles or their sense of humor," he said. "There is no electricity, but we are better protected than in our homes." With an inefficient centralized economy and a U.S. embargo that has stifled trade, Cuba doesn't have resources to build new, hurricane-proof buildings. It doesn't have fleets of Humvees to charge through the floodwaters. Few of its people have cars to flee in, and fewer still can check on loved ones by cellphone. But if there's one thing the communist island does right, it's evacuations. And in the end, that saves more lives than anything else.

Cuba sees more than its share of killer hurricanes, and yet in the past decade only 22 Cubans have been killed by them. When Hurricane Gustav roared across western Cuba as a Category-4 hurricane on Aug. 30, it damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage. Nobody died. The storm then moved onto Louisiana, which launched a massive evacuation and saw 26 people die. The death toll from Hurricane Ike this week was shockingly high by Cuban standards: four. This, for a giant storm that tore across the length of the island, flattening houses in its path. Compare that with Haiti, which took glancing blows from Hanna and Ike and saw hundreds die.

The secret is the evacuations system. A quarter-million Cubans evacuated during Gustav, and the number for Ike was a staggering 2.6 million — nearly a quarter of the island's population. Most of the evacuees found family or friends to stay with, but nearly 400,000 were housed in 2,300 government shelters.
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Cuba's evacuations differ greatly from those in the United States, where people rush to airports for overbooked flights or pile into cars that clog highways. In Cuba, people are already prepared, part of a sophisticated system overseen by the president and the armed forces. Standing evacuation plans are distributed to each household long ahead of time, and evacuation drills are held regularly. When a hurricane is approaching, state news media issue early warnings and civil-defense officials activate local response networks, organized down to each block of each town.
Schools and other government buildings are quickly turned into shelters, and each is assigned a doctor and sometimes a nurse. Volunteers check stocks of blankets, water and food. Forty-eight hours before an expected hit, residents are told to prepare to evacuate. When the storm is a day away, volunteer civil-defense workers go door-to-door to ensure everyone gets out of harm's way. Government buses, cars and trucks transport evacuees to higher ground. Government shelters take in anyone who can't find a place to stay.
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http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26647041/ns/world_news-americas/t/lesson-ike-cuba-gets-evacuations-right/#.WaWkU2cTaD4

Cuba's Emergency System

Cuba is the largest and most populated island in the Caribbean yet is consistently experiences the lowest death tolls during hurricane season.[5] According to United Nations, it's not because Cubans are lucky but because they're prepared.[6] According to Oxfam, from 1996-2002, only 16 people were killed by the six hurricanes that struck Cuba.[7]

Cuba has a world-class meteorological institute, with 15 provincial offices. They share data with US scientists and project storm tracks. Around 72 hours before a storm’s predicted landfall, national media issue alerts while civil protection committees check evacuation plans and shelters. Hurricane awareness is taught in schools and there are practice drills for the public before each hurricane season.[7]

State run television and the civil defense authority broadcast to the population with information and instructions about what measures to take. Each residential block has a person assigned to take a census on who is being evacuated to which shelter, with special attention paid to the elderly and pregnant women, and as efforts are organized locally, compliance is increased.[7]

The response system has four stages. In Stage I, which takes place 72 hours before landfall, the Civil Defense Structure is placed on an alert, and the media begins broadcasting warnings of the impending storm. At Stage II, 48 hours before the storm, the DCN (National Civil Defense) in each municipality or zone begins to organize hurricane preparation efforts, such as sending students home from schools. Shelters are inspected and supplied, and evacuations begin. Once the hurricane makes landfall, Stage III begins, during which the media continues to provide coverage of the hurricane, and the DCN attempts to maintain lines of communication. After the hurricane has passed, Stage IV begins, and people return to their homes, after they have been certified as sound by the DCN. Rescue operations and tallies of damages begin.[7]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba_Emergency_Response_System