United Nations Office of the Resident Coordinator in Cuba
From: Office of the Resident Coordinator in Cuba
Subject: Situation Report No. 1 “Hurricane IKE”- September 8, 2008- 14:00 hrs.
Situation:
Hurricane IKE penetrated in Cuba through its northeastern corner on the night of Sunday 7 September with 194 km/h winds registered at Velasco, Holguin; and 130 km/h at Moa, another Holguin township.
As it struck Cuba’s northeastern coast, it carried winds of 195 km/h and higher gusts and a barometer of 945 mb.
IKE strikes Cuba just one week alter another violent hurricane, GUSTAV wrecked havoc and spread destruction in Western Cuba, especially in the Special Municipality of the Isle of Youth and the province of Pinar del Rio.
With IKE, hurricane winds and torrential rains were compounded by violent sea penetrations in Cuba’s Northeastern-most area. Enormous damages were caused by 6-meter high waves which penetrated almost one kilometer inland destroying everything on its path, including urban areas of the city of Baracoa.
Hurricane winds downed thousands of trees, telephone and power posts and caused serious damages to housing and other buildings.
Rains are torrential. At Palenque de Yateras, 138 mm were recorded in less than 24 hours. 1
The storm’s eye followed a westerly path and entered the Caribbean Sea at midmorning Monday, after attacking Camaguey Province with 209 km/h winds.
At Puerto Padre, Las Tunas Province, a wind squall of 192 km/h was recorded this Monday morning.
As it swirls westwards over the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, IKE will probable gain further in organization and strength.
IKE presents a very serious danger to all of Cuba and could strike again areas gravely affected by its predecessor storm, GUSTAV, now struggling for their recuperation.
Preventive measures of adopted by the Government of Cuba:
The Cuban National Civil Defense has issued five informative notes in which it established protective measures related to the advance of hurricane IKE through the national territory.
The latest one -number 5- was issued Monday at 10:00 EDT in which it declares the ALARM PHASE for the provinces of Havana and City of Havana, and the INFORMATIVE PHASE for Pinar del Rio and the Special Municipality of Isle of Youth. The rest of the provinces remain in the ALARM PHASE.
The evacuation of residents in areas of risk, the return home of vacationers, intern students and those working in agricultural tasks are measures adopted in all provinces. It is estimated that the total number of persons evacuated is one million.
Educational activities have been suspended until further notice. All schools are under protection and their educational materials, including electronic means, have been secured.
Surface, air and maritime transportation has been likewise suspended in all affected provinces.
The public health system has been fully activated, especially in remote and evacuation areas.
Water reservoirs are under continuous vigilance so as to regulate huge amounts of rain water streaming down hill.
All territories have secured their cattle herds and placed under special protection their poultry and pig installations. A special effort is being placed in the gathering of fruit and vegetables for public consumption. Agricultural enterprises are securing their cultivation sheds, organoponics and other agricultural means.
Santiago de Cuba Over 100,000 evacuees, of whom 6 632 are residential students. Thousands of pounds of coffee beans are being harvested in the mountainous areas of the Turquino area.
Las Tunas 307 evacuation centers have been activated.
2 Granma 175,394 persons have been evacuated, 144,872 of them in homes of family or friends. All of the province’s residents have been urged to seek protection at buildings with solid roofs, and all public institutions have opened their doors to evacuees.
Holguín 118,000 persons have been evacuated.
Guantánamo More than 60,000 people have been evacuated or left their homes for safer ground. 2,000 of them live in Maisí, Cuba’s Eastern tip, while thousand living in the Baracoa region have been taken to safety from violent sea penetrations.
Camagüey 262,000 people have been taken to safer ground, especially those at risk of sea penetrations. 329 refuges have been activated.
Ciego de Ávila Some 90% of the more than 110,000 evacuees in Ciego de Avila are lodged at homes of family for neighbors. Visitors and workers at the tourist center of Jardines del Rey, on the Ciego de Avila north coast, were taken to safety.
Sancti Spiritus At least 223,000 persons, 48% of the province’s total, have been taken to safety.
Matanzas 120,000 residents were taken to safety at safe houses or at homes of family and friends. 13,000 tourists, foreign and Cuban, were taken to safety. Safety measures are also protecting more than 5,600 foreign students at schools in the Southern Matanzas county of Jagüey Grande, under the auspices of the Bolivar Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).
Cienfuegos National and foreign tourists were taken to safer places, as well as the foreign students at the Medical School and the Health Polytechnic.
La Habana More than 6,000 were evacuated to safer ground.
Pinar del Rio. 16,300 persons remain evacuated in Pinar del Rio. Fuel for cooking, such as alcohol and liquid gas, are being distributed.
Preliminary Damages
At present, the Cuban territory continues to be affected by Hurricane Ike; any reported damages are preliminary due to the fact that 12 of the 14 provinces are currently under security PHASE ALARM and ALERT.
There has been no reported loss of life.
3 Guantánamo More than 10,000 dwellings have been affected; more than 300 have collapsed completely. Electricity service and ground communication have been damaged in the Maisi and Yateras areas.
The Jaibo and Los Asientos reservoirs are draining water, while La Yaya is full. Several rivers - Toa, Macaguanigua and El Jobo in Imías – have overflowed and are causing flooding.
7 individuals have been injured, although not critically.
In Baracoa, the storm surge has penetrated the town, flooding many of streets and reaching a height of up to 5 stories.
As such many houses along the Malecon have suffered damages as well as the Hotel La Rusa. The wall of the Heritage Fort La Punta, erected in the 14th century, and local Heritage Site has collapsed.
Santiago de Cuba At this point, the province is reporting fallen trees and posts and severe damages to over 550 homes.
Holguín Considerable damages have occurred to dwellings and other buildings in the provincial capital as well as the municipalities of Moa, Banes and Gibara. Gibara, a coastal city, is reporting significant storm surge and the city of Holguin experienced torrential rains of more than 135 mm in less than 2 hours.
The province is without electricity and has lost television signal, due to the collapse of the transmission tower. Numerous trees and electrical and telephone posts have fallen.
The anemometer at the Moa municipality was itself broken due to the high intensity winds.
Camaguey Fallen trees, telephone and electrical cables are reported in the municipality of Nuevitas. Partial and total collapse of houses is also being reported along with damages to roofs, windows and walls of educational and state centres.
Storm surge and coastal flooding has taken place along the northern shore, principally affecting tourist sites such as Santa Lucia and the Punta de Ganado beach.
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Actions Taken by the United Nations System in Cuba:
The United Nations System (UNS) in Cuba has been closely monitoring the evolution of Hurricane Ike and will remain attentive to the Information Notes released by the Civil Defense and the Tropical Cyclone Alerts released by the Meteorological Institute of Cuba.
The Disaster Management Mechanisms of the United Nations have been alerted and activated.
The SMT/DMT (Security Management Team/Disaster Management Team) met this morning to evaluate the situation and agree on future steps. With the probable threat posed to the City of Havana, where all UN agencies offices are located - as of 1:00 pm today until further notice - the offices will be officially open but minimally staffed. All UN personnel has been given official instructions to proceed in accordance with the present situation.
The WHO/PAHO offices will function as an emergency coordination centre for the UN System.
As of Saturday, September 6th, the UN guardian system for all personnel in the Eastern part of the country was activated. Personnel located in the affected areas are in contact with the Office of the Resident Coordinator.
The Resident Coordinator/Designated Official in consultation with the SMT has decided to maintain security PHASE 1 in the entire Cuban territory. Any mission by UN personnel outside of Havana or international missions to Cuba must obtain “Authorization to Travel”. For international missions to Cuba this authorization can be requested through the UNDSS webpage. https://dss.un.org/dssweb. Internal mission should fill out the appropriate form and send it to the Designated Oficial, Ms. Susan McDade.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) currently has in-country specialists to support the UNS in responding both to the damages caused by GUSTAV and IKE and the continued threat of IKE.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) as well as UNDSS, situated in Panama, have maintained constant communication with the Resident Coordinator/Designated Official offering their support. Other UN headquarters and regional offices have been in contact with their respective agencies.
Information:
For further information, please contact the Office of the Resident Coordinator in Cuba: Susan McDade: Mobile 53 52802757; email [email protected]; Roberto Gálvez: Mobile 53 52851470; email [email protected]; [email protected] [email protected]; [email protected].
Consult the United Nations Website in Cuba: www.onu.org.cu For national information, consult: Instituto de Meteorología de Cuba http://www.insmet.cu Infomed Red De Salud Cubana http://www.sld.cu/sitios/huracanes/ Periódico Granma http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu Periódico Juventud Rebelde http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/
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