Yahoo! News
November 9, 2001. By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 9 (AP) - Hurricane Michelle did more economic damage to Cuba last
week than any other storm in four decades of communist rule, the government
said.
While past hurricanes have caused more deaths, "none has provoked
economic damage of the magnitude'' of this storm, Vice President Carlos Lage
said Thursday night in a report broadcast live to the nation.
Michelle killed five people in Cuba when it hit the island Sunday with 135
mph winds. Another 12 people were killed in Central America and Jamaica.
Lage said the hurricane affected about 45 percent of the island's territory,
home to about 5 million of the nation's 11 million citizens. Electrical and
telephone systems were hit hardest.
"Confronting Hurricane Michelle has been an extraordinary test of (the)
people,'' Lage said. "We will have to work more and better.''
Although Cuba is still recovering from its post-Soviet financial crisis, it
does have some reserves to help rebuild collapsed buildings and toppled
communications towers, President Fidel Castro (news - web sites) said earlier
this week.
Every person and business, Lage said, should know they "will not be
forgotten.'' He said a financial estimate of the damage was being calculated and
that it would "not hide any damage.''
At least 45,000 homes were damaged nationwide, state media have reported in
recent days.
Sugar ministry officials said Cuba's important sugar crop was severely
damaged. Nearly 1 million acres of sugarcane that was to be harvested later this
month was flattened.
Electricity, telephone service and running water were being restored
Thursday, and Lage said most services would be operating by Sunday.
But the government said electricity in some regions would take longer,
especially in hard-hit Matanzas province. Lage said some residents there will
not have power until later this month.
He said the country's water system suffered only minor damage and that most
interruptions in water service were due to lack of power.
In a separate statement read Thursday night on state television, the
government expressed gratitude for the U.S. government's offer of possible
humanitarian assistance.
Cuba said it needed the United States to relax restrictions so it could
bring food and raw materials for medicine from the United States. It also asked
for authorization to transport them directly to the island aboard Cuban ships.
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