I
just spoke to nelson valdes, a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about
cuba, and asked him how civil defense is conducted in cuba. he ticked
it off while i listened with my left hand and typed with my right. here
are the notes i took:
* * *
less than 2 months ago, cuba was able to move 1.7 people on short notice.
the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. people know ahead of time where they are to go.
they come to your door and knock, and tell you, evacuation is coming, then they come and tell you, now.
if no electricity, they have runners who communicate from a headquarters to central locations what is to be done.
the
country's leaders go on TV and take charge. but not only the leaders
are speaking. the TV weatherpeople are knowledgeable. and the
population is well educated about hurricanes.
they not
only evacuate. it's arranged beforehand where they will go, who has
family where. not only pickup is organized, delivery of people is
organized.
merely sticking them in a stadium is
unthinkable. shelters all have medical personnel, from the
neighborhood. they have family doctors in cuba (!), who evacuate
together with the neighborhood, and already know who, for example,
needs insulin.
if they evacuate to a countryside high school -- a last resort -- they have dormitories there.
they
also have veterinarians and they evacuate animals. they begin
evacuating immediately, and also evacuate TV sets and refrigerators, so
that people aren't relucatant to leave because people might steal their
stuff.
it's not throwing money at the problem. it's not financial capital, it's social capital.
the u.s. in this sense has zero social capital.
dealing with hurricanes in cuba, as compared with how it's done
in the u.s., is similar to the differences in how they deal with
medicine. it's not reactive; it's proactive. they act as early as
possible. the u.s. doesn't have civil defense, it has civil *reaction.*
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