AMERICA/CUBA - 50 days after the hurricane, thousands of people are still homeless and without services

Santiago de Cuba (Agenzia Fides) - The Episcopal Conference of Uruguay has received an appeal from the Bishop Emeritus of Melo (Uruguay), His Exc. Mgr. Luis del Castillo, who has been living as a missionary in Santiago de Cuba for two years (see Fides 06/11/2012). The Uruguayan Church has launched a campaign of solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who are still homeless after Hurricane Sandy, which devastated the whole region in the early hours on Thursday, October 25.
According to official information, the note sent to Fides Agency from Uruguay in the city of Santiago de Cuba, the second in the country, there is a neighborhood that suffered significant damage to homes, electrical service, communications , workplaces and industrial centers. It is estimated that more than 100,000 homes were affected, including about 20,000 in ruin: all the municipalities still have problems with the power supply and there were 17,300 telephone interruptions. The damage, just as serious, also concern trade, health units, schools and 90% of the churches and chapels, including the National Shrine of Our Lady of Cobre, patroness of Cuba (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 13/12/2012)