NAIROBI, 24 September 2008 (IRIN) - Oxfam first highlighted Cuba's highly effective hurricane response system in the April 2004 report Weathering the Storm: Lessons in Hurricane Risk Reduction from Cuba.

For example, in 2007, tropical storm Noel caused one death in Cuba compared with at least 18 in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. When Hurricane George struck in 1998, only six people died in Cuba; 209 were killed in Haiti. The six hurricanes that hit Cuba from 1996 to 2002 killed 16 people; 649 were killed elsewhere in the region. "Cuba is one of the best prepared, if not the best prepared for natural disasters. The same hurricane which would take zero lives in Cuba would kill massively in Haiti," former UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland told Reuters in 2006.

So how does Cuba do it?  

In the World Disasters Report 2005: Run, tell your neighbour! Hurricane warning in the Caribbean, the International Federation of the Red Cross reported that Cuba had a world-class meteorological institute, with 15 provincial offices. About 72 hours before a storm's predicted landfall, national media issue alerts while civil protection committees check evacuation plans and shelters. Hurricane awareness is taught in schools and there are practice drills for the public before each hurricane season.

With the storm 48 hours away, authorities target warnings at high-risk areas. Local officials check that vulnerable people can be evacuated. With 12 hours to go, everyone who needs to be evacuated should be in shelters, homes must be secured, windows boarded up and neighbourhoods cleared of loose debris. These are the legal requirements in Cuba, and they are enforced.  

According to Audrey Mullings, a Jamaican Red Cross volunteer: "The best thing to learn from Cuba is that you don't need a lot of money to make things work."

ma/bp/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

IRIN news