From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERBOX 4.5:CUBA VS KATRINA, LESSONS IN DISASTERRISK REDUCTIONTwo months after Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans in2005, killing around 1,300 people, Hurricane Wilma, at one pointthe strongest hurricane ever recorded, struck Cuba. The seaswept 1km inland and flooded the capital Havana, yet there wereno deaths or even injuries in the city. Nationwide, 640,000 peoplewere evacuated and only one life was lost. The six major hurricanesthat rolled over Cuba between 1996 and 2002 claimed only16 lives.What did this poor developing country, subject to a long-standingeconomic embargo by the USA, do that the wealthy superpowernext door failed to? Both countries have ‘tangible assets’, includinga well-organised civil defence capability, efficient early-warningsystem, well-equipped rescue teams, and emergency stockpilesand other resources. But ‘intangible assets’ present in Cuba andapparently lacking in the USA proved to be just as important.The oil in the Cuban civil defence machine that enables it tofunction properly includes effective local leadership, communitymobilisation, a strong sense of solidarity, and a population thatis both well educated and trained in disaster response.Cuba has developed a ‘culture of safety,’ which centralisesdecision-making in a crisis but decentralises implementation.Many ordinary people play important roles in disaster preparednessand response. Frequent and repeated use of the system has builthigh levels of trust between communities and civil defence officials.‘Any child in school can give you an explanation – how you prepare,what you do. Students know what to do, they know the phases[the four emergency phases: information, alert, alarm, andrecovery], what to do in each phase…how to gather things in thehouse and put them away…shut off the water and electricity.All students, workers, and small farmers get this training’,explains José Castro of the civil defence unit in Cienfuegos.Once a year, at the end of May, the entire country participatesin a training exercise in risk reduction, including a full day ofsimulation exercises, and another identifying vulnerable residents,252