UN Reaffirms Support for Cuba in Wake of Hurricane Melissa

The UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba, Francisco Pichón, reaffirmed the United Nations System's support for the Cuban state in its response to Hurricane Melissa, highlighting the effectiveness of its civil defense and prevention model, which saved lives.

Alongside an official from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Darío Álvarez, they emphasized the robustness of the national risk management system, led by Civil Defense, as the central pillar of an effective, timely, and profoundly humane response.

He stated that even before the hurricane made landfall, the UN system activated anticipatory action mechanisms, in close coordination with national authorities, to proactively respond to the storm's potential impacts.

He explained that a UN System team, comprised of UN agencies present in the country alongside international partners like the European Union, was invited by the Civil Defense General Staff to visit severely affected areas in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Granma. During this tour, they witnessed firsthand the scope and effectiveness of the national mobilization prior to impact, which allowed for the evacuation and protection of over 735,000 people, with no loss of life reported to date.

The visit included communities heavily impacted by Melissa, such as El Cobre, the Cauto river basin, and the municipality of Cauto Cristo. The latter experienced floods that forced authorities to rapidly increase evacuation operations, activate shelters, and deploy medical and logistical resources.

According to the official, this capacity for immediate response impressed the UN representatives and stands in contrast to the response to human tragedies recorded in other nations. He described it as a testament to the institutional capacity built up over decades in disaster prevention and preparedness.

He underscored that the UN System operates in this process under the guiding principle of General Assembly Resolution 46/182, which establishes that the primary responsibility for leading the humanitarian response lies with the affected state.

Within this framework, the UN's role is to "accompany, support, and strengthen the government's actions, respecting its leadership. This collaborative approach has allowed for an agile and coordinated response, based on two key instruments: the Action Plan in response to Hurricane Melissa, and the Anticipatory Action Framework."

Funded with $4 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Anticipatory Action Framework marked a milestone in response actions by enabling the pre-positioning of aid before the hurricane's impact.

"Through this mechanism, we successfully pre-positioned water purifiers in high-risk shortage regions, food for evacuation centers, hygiene kits, power generators, and other supplies, in close coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) and various national ministries and entities," Pichón pointed out.

This early intervention, made possible by permanent technical-scientific dialogue with the authorities to jointly plan anticipatory action, averted secondary crises and accelerated the initial recovery.

Once the hurricane passed, the emergency response Action Plan was activated. This is an instrument coordinated among 11 UN System agencies—out of 23 present in Cuba—focusing on six critical sectors: housing and shelter, food security and nutrition, education, health, water and sanitation, and logistics.

Launched formally the previous week in Havana, the plan has a funding goal of $74 million, aimed at providing direct assistance to at least one million affected people. To date, commitments of over $11 million have been secured from the UN's CERF, agencies' own funds, and cooperation partners like the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the government of Korea.

The UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba emphasized that the Action Plan is a dynamic instrument, constantly updated as damage assessments by the authorities progress.

While it was initially estimated that about 2.2 million people in 33 municipalities suffered direct or indirect impacts—out of a total of 3.5 million exposed to the phenomenon—these figures are being refined with official on-the-ground information, he elaborated.

It is recognized, he said, that many communities are still being reached, and the real needs may be adjusted in the coming weeks. Therefore, the Plan is considered "live," capable of adapting to the evolving situation on the ground.

Pichón described how the UN team witnessed progress in concrete actions during their field visit: the gradual restoration of services, sanitation, and access to isolated communities. Furthermore, power generators have been deployed to ensure energy supply in health centers and critical points.

He also noted that the delivery of food to evacuated people has been secured. "These advances, although significant, are only the beginning of a complex process that requires sustainability and additional resources."

In this regard, he specified that "$63 million remains to be mobilized to fully respond to the needs identified in the Action Plan, especially in housing reconstruction, rehabilitation of staple crop farms, repair of schools and hospitals, and restoration of essential services."

For his part, Darío Álvarez of OCHA emphasized that the efficiency of the response in Cuba is due to unique factors: the existence of a clear risk management structure, the technical capacity of the authorities, and the existence of constant dialogue based on scientific data.

"It is not always like this in other contexts," he noted, "but the fact that the system is well-structured here facilitates coordination actions." He also highlighted that every need expressed by the population—from a broken roof to a wet mattress—is legitimate and part of the priority map, because in an emergency, what seems small can have a major human impact.

He concluded that, beyond material assistance, "the fact that there were zero casualties in an emergency of this magnitude speaks to a highly effective system for protecting the population, which we will accompany in the search for new resources to continue assisting the most affected people."