130,000 other housing units in Santiago Province in Cuba were damaged or destroyed, if you want to help out see below article. And close to 200,000 people were displaced again in Haiti but you hear very little about the effects of storm from media in the US about Cuba and Haiti.
http://www.sabinabecker.com/2012/10/whats-stronger-than-hurricane-sandy.html Whats stronger than Hurricane Sandy?<http://www.sabinabecker.com/2012/10/whats-stronger-than-hurricane-sandy.html> October 30, 2012 Sabina Becker These are: These modest homes are all plastic, made in Venezuela. And they are strong enough to withstand even the force of a Caribbean hurricane:<http://www.aporrea.org/venezuelaexterior/n217225.html> *Much destruction, countless uprooted trees and downed power lines. This remains the predominant scene in every corner of Santiago de Cuba on Monday. But it is accompanied by swarms of men and women who, using modern means or simple machetes and brooms, are transforming the images of Hurricane Sandys devastation from four days ago before our very eyes.* * The president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, toured the streets of Cubas second-largest city, and nearby zones of renown such as Siboney and El Caney. The spirit of Santiagos citizens was as great as the devastation. Raúl began his tour with an homage to José Martí at his mausoleum in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, which also houses monuments to the fallen of the July 26 uprising, and the internationalist martyrs. There was no major damage at the site, nor was the Martí mausoleum affected. During a brief stop at a site along the Central Highway, near the exit from Santiago, where a hundred Venezuelan-made petrocasas had been erected five years ago, it became evident how little damage these buildings had sustained compared to the devastation wrought by the hurricane on the other homes nearby. It is a sign that the petrocasas are a good option, especially in rural zones. The Santiago residents of the petrocasas could personally confirm the buildings resistance to strong winds. Listen, I thought they wouldnt hold out, but there they are theyre super-strong! said Olvedis Ramos, who was surprised by the cyclone while he was visiting local relatives. I thought Sandy would be stronger than the petrocasas, but she was no match for them. In a characteristic gesture of solidarity, the inhabitants of the petrocasas took in many neighbors who were at risk. None of the Venezuelan-built homes suffered any damage. Said Raúl Castro about the passing of Sandy over the province, Its been hard, but Santiago is Santiago. It has resisted gales and wars of every kind, and it will overcome this one too. We must resist! A smattering of applause was the response. * Translation mine. The idea of the petrocasas was conceived a few years ago in Venezuela, as a solution to the housing problems there.<http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/3326>Many Venezuelans, especially in urban areas, live in precarious shantytowns on flood-prone hillsides. They need inexpensive but durable materials to build their houses so the latter dont rot away in the heat and rain of that tropical land, as so many of the rickety improvised hillside *ranchos*do. And since petroleum is abundant and cheap, hard plastic became an obvious choice. Many former slum dwellers now live in safe, dignified petrocasas, which are made from PVC walls filled with cement. Now Venezuela is helping out Cuba (which supplied doctors and literacy teachers to those same slums) by replacing poor families *bohíos* (shacks) with petrocasas, among other things. And since Cuba was recently found to possess some vast offshore oil deposits, which the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA (builder of the petrocasa!), will soon help develop, its just a matter of time before petrocasas become a regular feature of the Cuban landscape. They will play a considerable part, too, in Cubas industrial revamp and modernization, and will provide plenty of good jobs. Just more proof that when Cuba comes in from the cold, it wont be because the US lifted that odious blockade with which they attempted to starve the island into submission, nor will capitalists play the role of the heroic liberator; it will be with the help of fellow Latin Americans, most prominently the oil-rich (and oil-wise) Bolivarian people of Venezuela. And just more proof that human solidarity is stronger than any hurricane. ------------------------------------------- This was sent out by Walter Lippmann: Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC) Phone: 805-233-7574 jbarbieri...@mediccglobal.org | www.medicc.org MEDICAL EDUCATION COOPERATION WITH CUBA October 30, 2012 Hurricane Relief for Santiago, Cuba: Help Now! As the US eastern seaboard counts severe losses and begins recovery from Hurricane Sandy, Cubans are digging out from the same storm with far fewer resources at their disposal. To restore power, 72 crews of linesmen work day and night. In the fields, farmers salvage the crops they can. Trucks and trains haul food, 4,000 tons of cement and some 84,000 sheets of roofing eastward to Santiago. The province-including Cuba's second largest city of the same name and the country's highest mountain range-was the hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy in the pre-dawn hours of October 25th. Today, people struggle to pick up their homes and lives amidst the ruins. This hurricane was unique: it was the first in recent Cuban history to plow directly into such a populated area-nearly 500,000 in Santiago's city limits, another 600,000 on its outskirts and on mountain slopes turned treacherous in the storm. And its winds ripped through eastern Cuba for a full five hours before heading north. Santiago, whose people are described as the most hospitable, warm and generous of all Cubans are rebuilding a flattened city--its homes, hospitals and schools wrecked by the storm. You can help the people of this beautiful city recover, your donations giving them the extra courage it takes to face such a disaster. MEDICC and Global Links, with the aid of the Pan American Health Organization, are now sending medical supplies and equipment, chlorine tablets, hospital furnishings and critical medical books to Santiago and other provinces directly hit by the storm. Help us help the people of Santiago...we pledge to make your gift count. We'll update you on the lives your donation touches, as hospitals and medical schools recover with your support. Donate NOW online! at www.medicc.org Or make your check payable to MEDICC and send to: MEDICC, P.O. Box 361449, Decatur, GA 30036 (simply note> SANTIAGO) Or hold an event, whatever the size, to gather donations from friends, members of your organization, co-workers and the general public. Contact us at: i...@medicc.org if you would like a speaker. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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