Specialists of the Cuban Government advise that at-risk zones should always expect tropical storms.

Veronica Ayala
El Norte

Monterrey, Mexico (26 May 2007) - To reduce the vulnerability of the impacted populations and the risks of natural disasters and with such evade human loss, governments should invest more in the prevention of hurricanes, asserted Jose Rubiera Torres yesterday.

The director of the Department of Weather Services of Cuba emphasized the importance of designating a budget to reduction of disasters, as well as resources reserved for recovery efforts in affected areas.

"When you invest in prevention, you are spending less, much less than you have to spend when you must invest in reconstruction," he said, "and there are things that can not be reconstructed; human life, for example. Therefore prevention is absolutely necessary and it is the first thing that must be done. Being well prepared before, especially in the cases where there will be an affected population, you will have less of a disaster."

Participating in the "US-Cuban Dialogue on Disaster Prevention in the age of Superstorms," organized by the Technologico de Monterrey, Rubiera Torres stated that an integrated system of prevention should include dependable and early forecasts and have plans to prevent construction or assent into areas prone to flooding."

"I believe that you must always be prepared for a hurricane, whether you are told the storm will be of little impact or told there will be a great impact."

In his session "Applied methods in Cuba for the minimization of hurricane damage," the Cuban official emphasized the role of the means of communication to inform and alert the population of prevention and recovery for natural disasters.

According to Rubiera Torres, the joint work of the National Center for Weather in Cuba, the Civil Defense and the means of communication on material regarding prevention has resulted in only 18 deaths in the past 10 years caused by tropical cyclones, despite being a region prone to hurricanes.

"This is due to the prevention, to the protection given to each citizen and to the degree of information and culture we have," he asserted.