Cuba Civil Defense Stresses UN Cooperation

Havana, April 29 (ACN) Cuban Civil Defense chief, division general Ramon Pardo Guerra stressed in Havana the United Nations Cooperation System in his opening remarks on Monday of a workshop aimed at strengthening response capacities against a high-intensity hurricane which could hard hit Havana.

This forum allows interaction and coordination actions in cooperation with the UN system, which has accompanied Cuba for years in disaster risk management, said Pardo Guerra.

The official explained about the need to protect the Cuban capital from the impact of extreme weather phenomena due its condition of political and cultural center, a main tourist site with the largest population in the country.

UN resident coordinator in Havana, Francisco Pichon, recalled the solid relationship and dialog between the UN system and the Cuban Civil Defense, which is crucial to rapidly define bilateral cooperation priorities to launch an efficient joint response.

Meteorology expert Armando Caimares said that Cuba in the northern group of the Lesser Antilles, along Puerto Rico, have been hard hit by high-intensity storms. He said that there is great chance that Havana can be directly hit by one of those strong hurricanes over the next years, because none of them have reached the island in the past eight decades.

The workshop includes a final session with working committees attending to specific areas such as health, water and sewage, food security, education, management of shelters and homes.