Medical collaborators return from St. Vincent and the Grenadines

HAVANA, Cuba, May 21 (ACN) Members of the Cuban medical brigade collaborating in St. Vincent and the Grenadines arrived on Thursday in Cuba after providing assistance to the national emergency in that country due to the eruption of a volcano.

On April 9, the Vincentian government decreed a state of national emergency after the eruption of the La Soufrière volcano, which affected the capital Georgetown and the northern part of the country.

Out of the members of the Cuban medical brigade who were in the Caribbean nation, 17 of them returned to their homeland to spend some vacation time after having made available their experience and helped the victims of the volcano eruption.

Neurisel Fonseca Sánchez, a pharmacy graduate, explained to the Cuban News Agency that the experience was truly unique, as they witnessed cities apparently burned, in ashes.

Fonseca Sánchez emphasized the tranquility and the joint work of the Cuban specialists and the discipline that reigned at the time of evacuation.

Jorge Juan Delgado Bustillo, director of the Central Unit of Medical Collaboration, highlighted the courage of the collaborators to give their support.

Cuba had a direct command post in the country that followed up all the events, the doctor said, even today the situation of apparent quietness was assessed because there is still a risk of a new explosion after the last one on April 22, he stressed.

La Soufrière erupted last April 9, after the first signs of activity were reported three months before. The volcano had a previous explosion in 1979 and the biggest one recorded occurred in 1902 when it caused the death of a thousand people.