After the intense rains that caused flooding in Havana this weekend, Cuban activists mobilize on social networks to raise help for people who have been affected.
“The HUELLAS team begins collecting donations for the victims of the Cuban capital,” activist Johana Jolá Álvarez announced this Sunday on Facebook.
The activist recalled that the rains lead to flooding in low-lying areas and landslides, which cause many families to lose the little they have, although no official information has yet been released on the material losses caused by heavy rainfall.
The team is gathering toiletries, canned or packaged foods, clothing and footwear, school supplies, toys and board games, bedding and medications. Those interested in helping can call +53 55057111.
This Saturday, Low areas of several Havana municipalities were flooded by heavy rains. Images, published mainly on social networks, showed overflowing streets and some people with water up to their waists and vehicles with their tires covered in water.
The Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology (INSMET) reported on the social network late.
According to the state-run Cuban News Agency, Among the municipalities in which flooding was recorded in low-lying areas are Diez de Octubre, La Habana Vieja, Centro Habana, Plaza de la Revolución and Boyeros.
The rainfall also caused a new suspension of maritime transportation between Old Havana and the municipalities of Regla and Casa Blanca, in the Regla boat. This forces the residents or workers of these municipalities, once again, to look for alternatives to move.
It had been less than a month since this means of transportation had begun to provide service, after the only boat that was sailing broke down. At the beginning of June, for the first time since 2022, Havana residents once again had two boats.
But due to the rains and the garbage carried by the tide, lThe Havana Transportation Company decided to interrupt the navigation of the vessels.
“The maritime transportation service of the Regla boat is suspended, due to the weather conditions and exposure to possible damage to the vessels, due to the large amount of solid waste dragged by the tide,” the state company reported on Facebook this week. Sunday.
Activist Johana Jolá Álvarez warned of possible landslides in Havana when the rains stop and the sun rises.
“The worst is yet to come,” he warned in another Facebook post.
The high degree of deterioration that houses in Cuba accumulate They make the activist’s fear more than founded.
In Matanzas, the rains have already caused two partial landslides between Friday and Saturday. Neither of the two events resulted in deaths or injuries. With these, yesThere are six landslides that have occurred in Cuba in one week.
The other four were reported in Havana and one of them left one dead and two injured. Just this week, The Government of Cuba reported that in the first five months of 2024 It has only built 3,579 homes, which represents just 0.8% of those necessary to eliminate a deficit that, according to official figures, is 800,000 homes.
While housing problems accumulate, worsen and generate protests, mainly from mothers to whom the authorities have responded with threats, the Government prioritizes the tourism sector. And the official figures prove it.
To the construction of hotels and tourist facilities, the Cuban Government allocated a quarter of the 41,616,003 million of state investment in the first half of 2023according to a publication by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
This sector accounted for 10,406 million pesos in the first half of the year, despite the fact that seven out of every ten hotel rooms were unoccupied in the same period.
