Power still out in Cuba's second largest city nearly two weeks after Sandy hit the country

Power still out in Cuba's second largest city nearly two weeks after
Sandy hit the country
ANNE-MARIE GARCIA
HAVANA — The Associated Press
Published Monday, Nov. 05 2012, 11:21 PM EST

Even as streetlamps shine brightly in lower Manhattan and subways begin
rumbling through tunnels again, another city slammed by Hurricane Sandy
is still struggling to recover.

Two weeks after the storm blasted through Santiago, Cuba, the electrical
grid has been restored to just 28 per cent of normal as workers labor
around the clock to replace power lines downed by thousands of fallen
trees, the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported Monday

"Sources in (state-run power company) Empresa Electrica emphasized that
the task is titanic since it means building practically all of the
secondary networks from the ground up," the agency said, and those are
the ones "that deliver energy to homes and were the most impaired."

Much of the storm debris has been cleared from the streets, and students
went back to classes there Monday in a sign of some return to normalcy
for the city of about 500,000 people.

Residents said stores are offering early sales of basic foods that had
been planned for distribution later in the year. People unable to cook
in their darkened homes are relying on canned food, and the lucky few
that have power are giving neighbors a hand by boiling their water or
letting them charge cellphones.

"Things have been getting better, but we still don't have electricity.
Near my house there are streets that do ... I'm anxiously awaiting it,"
Berta Serguera, 82, told The Associated Press by phone from Santiago.

"The situation is very tough," said her sister Mirta Serguera, 79.

A naval helicopter carrier arrived from the capital carrying enough
roofing material for 37,000 homes and more than 6,000 public buildings,
the Santiago newspaper Sierra Maestra reported.

State-run website Cubadebate published photos of a cleaned up Parque de
Cespedes, Santiago's main square, stripped of trees but well groomed as
workers soldered ornamental metal fences and hauled off shrubbery ripped
out by the gale-force winds.

Sandy hit southeastern Cuba on Oct. 25 as a Category 2 hurricane,
killing 11 people, damaging more than 200,000 homes and causing major
losses to coffee and other crops. Authorities have not yet given an
estimate of the total economic toll.

Some 895 schools in Santiago were also damaged, according to a report by
Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Many were repaired and functioning again Monday, but 129 were badly
damaged, leaving students to gather in private homes, libraries,
cultural centers and movie theaters, or be sent to other schools.

Some classes were also held in homes in neighboring Holguin province,
Granma said.

In Santiago, hospitals, fire and water stations, bakeries and tall
buildings were receiving priority power service, and electrical grid
repairs were expected to finish by Nov. 15 with the help of crews
drafted from across the country.

President Raul Castro remained in the city on his tour of the
hardest-hit zones and promised to personally ensure that recovery
efforts proceed apace.

"We all know the problems you have. Do not lose faith in the
revolution," Mr. Castro said in remarks broadcast on television over the
weekend. "I will remain here until the electricity returns."

Yolanda Tabio, a 67-year-old resident of central Santiago, said that
after 12 days in the dark, she's hopeful the lights will come back on
soon. Her gas was restored three days ago, though phone service is still
intermittent.

"The most important thing is to be able to boil water, because it comes
out really cloudy and you have to take measures to avoid disease," Ms.
Tabio said.

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