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Cuba
UN praises strategy
for disaster
management
Despite being hit by no less than
four tropical cyclones during
2008’s hurricane season, fatalities
in Cuba are substantially less than for
other countries which were affected, a testament
to the country’s impressive disaster
management programme. Hurricane Ike
followed Fay, Gustav and Hannah, which all
hit within a three-week period and although
more than 20 percent of the population were
evacuated from their homes, Cuba’s death
toll was only seven. Even this is a high figure
for Cuba, the Communist Party newspaper
Granma reporting that most of the deaths
were down to people not obeying evacuation
instructions.
The UN and the International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction have praised Cuba on
numerous occasions for its effective management
strategy in the face of hurricanes. Even
Chad
EU set to
withdraw
troops
Violence in Chad has led UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon to
propose that the Security Council
should send 6,000 United Nations troops to
replace a European Union force (EUFOR) in
46
u r b a n
WORLD
November 2008
though Cuba does not have the resources of
richer countries, education and community
involvement help to ensure the safety of the
population. A UN web TV report states that
98 percent of the population receive information
about hurricanes through TV or radio.
The UN’s assessment of Cuba’s disaster management
strategy states: “All institutions are
mobilised 48 hours before the hurricane is
foreseen to hit the island, to implement the
emergency plan, and measures such as massive
evacuation are taken. Every individual
has a role to play at the community level. Local
authorities know who needs special care
and how to assist the most vulnerable. Schools
and hospitals are converted into shelters and
transport is immediately organised.”
Local residents keep the streets clean to
prevent drains flooding and schools and civil
defence authority hold classes to educate chil-
eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African
Republic (CAR).
The recommendation followed heavy criticism
in September from the charity Oxfam,
which says civilians are not being protected
from violence in eastern Chad and that police
forces needed urgent reinforcement. EUFOR
joined together with the UN Mission in the
Central African Republic and Chad (MINUR-
CAT), which was established in September
2007, to bring stability to eastern Chad and
north-eastern Central African Republic,
where fighting had been rife.
But Oxfam in its report published in September
2008 says that their efforts have not
been effective and that very few Chadian police
have been given training. “One year on,
this mission is incapable of effectively protecting
civilians in eastern Chad and should
be urgently adapted,” says the Oxfam report.
Cuba was hit by four tropical cyclones in
2008 Ph o t o © lu C í A Ch A C ó n
“Almost half a million vulnerable people who
fled their homes due to the conflict in Darfur
and Chad are not adequately protected and
are exposed daily to attacks, thefts, rape and
forced recruitment.”
The problem of protecting the people of
Chad is exacerbated by the arrival of refugees
from Darfur in neighbouring war-torn Sudan
and the growing number of Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs). The UN reports that
as of September 2008 there were 300,000
refugees and almost 200,000 IDPs.
“Only 320 Chadian police have been trained
to provide security and they have yet to be deployed,”
said Oxfam in September 2008. The
author of the report, Sally Chin, said that EU-
FOR is “ill-suited” to deal with banditry and
criminality.
EUFOR’s mandate is due to expire on 15
March 2009. In September they had 3,700