Havana. - Cuba has still not received the $3 million in aid that the United States Government announced it would deliver through the Catholic Church organization Caritas to help the victims of Hurricane Melissa.
As explained by the director of
Caritas Cuba, Carmen María Nodal, the US aid
"is still in process" more than a month after Melissa crossed the east of the island as a category 3 (of 5) hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
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"The (US) aid has not yet been received, it is still in process. It will be received in material goods, for the affected dioceses, and will be delivered by the Diocesan Caritas", he indicated.
EFE contacted the U.S. Embassy in Havana, but has not received a response so far.
"The United States is coordinating with the Catholic Church the distribution of $3 million in humanitarian assistance directly to those most affected in eastern Cuba by the devastation of Hurricane Melissa," wrote the U.S. Department of State on social media a month ago.
Needs
Nodal told EFE that currently "everything is needed" in the affected regions: from drinking water to non-perishable food, as well as hygiene products, and medicines, especially "due to the arbovirosis epidemic", of chikungunya and dengue.
He also highlighted the need for "roofs" for the homes affected by the hurricane and for "resources that allow the use of land for the cultivation of short-cycle foods that help guarantee the people's food supply in these circumstances."
According to Nodal, Caritas has been very active in eastern Cuba since the passage of Melissa, trying to help the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the hurricane.
The Catholic organization has collaborated in the delivery of food collected by the Archdiocese of Miami, which has chartered four planes with donations to date that have already arrived on the island.
He has also collaborated in the distribution of food and other donations with World Central Kitchen (WCK), the NGO of Spanish chef José Andrés; Catholic Relief Services (CRS); and the Polish embassy in Cuba.
WCK has distributed 7,000 food kits to families and kitchen utensils - such as a thousand multi-purpose or queen pots - and the CRS delivered 1,625 tents for families with damage in eastern Cuba.
Since the hurricane passed, multilateral agencies, NGOs such as the Red Cross, and countries like China, Venezuela, Spain, Colombia, South Korea, and Mexico have sent food and humanitarian aid to Cuba.
Melissa left extensive material damage - but no fatalities, according to the Cuban government - with winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and rainfall that left up to 400 millimeters (or liters per square meter) in some parts of the country.
According to official data, more than 90,000 homes were damaged, as well as 600 state medical infrastructures, more than 2,000 educational centers, about 100,000 hectares of crops and transport, telecommunications, electricity and water supply infrastructures.
The United Nations presented a $74.2 million action plan to assist a population of around one million people, just over 10% of the country's population.
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