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Cubans left to cope
yet again
By Sandra Hernandez, Staff
Writer. Posted August 14 2004 in the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Camacho, CUBA · Adonis Yero Perez
stood in front of the pile of metal sheets,
wooden boards and branches that used to
be his home and wondered how to rebuild
the place he spent five years constructing.
"I don't know where my wife and children
will spend the night or where we will live,"
said Perez, 33, who lives about 20 miles
south of downtown Havana. "I have very
little and now even less. Tomorrow I have
to go back to work because if I miss a day
of work then what will my family eat? And
now we don't even have a place to sleep."
Perez was among the thousands of Cubans
who spent Friday trying to clean up the
mess left by Hurricane Charley as it raked
this island nation of 11 million tearing
off roofs, downing power lines and toppling
hundreds of trees. The storm pushed across
the southwestern part of Cuba cutting a
path through dozens of small towns like
Camacho and eventually moving into the city
of Havana.
Cuban government officials reported three
people were killed as a result of the storms
and several injured.
At least 65 buildings in Havana neighborhoods
collapsed overnight, and more than 500 buildings
throughout the capital were affected, civil
defense authorities said.
But for many Cubans the storm didn't bring
the damage many feared.
"We are alive and I can't complain,"
said Regla Jimenez, 39, who worried the
strong winds would topple her wooden shack
in Old Havana. "We are lucky the rains
weren't as heavy because it didn't cause
the flooding."
Some of Jimenez's neighbors, however, suffered
more damage when nearby buildings began
to collapse.
"The building next door started crumbling
around 2 am and bricks started falling,"
said Enrique Rivero, 62, pointing to about
a dozen bricks that came crashing through
his first floor home in old Havana. "My
kids and I were lucky. We were in another
room because someone could have been hurt
or killed."
Charley's arrival coincided with Cuban
Leader Fidel Castro's birthday. Castro,
78, made a visit to the national Meteorology
Institute, where he congratulated residents
of the island for braving the storm. His
remarks were broadcast over state-run TV.
Before reaching Cuba, Charley drenched
Jamaica, where one man died. Byron Barret,
32, a farmer, died Wednesday night trying
to trying to rescue six people from rising
flood waters in St. Elizabeth parish, officials
said.
Only minimal damage was reported in the
Cayman Islands, where Charley hit earlier
Thursday when it was a much weaker Category
1 storm, with winds at 90 mph.
Copyright
© 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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