Ike: Where do the people of Cuba

evacuate to?

I'm just curious?

All I can think of is an old movie I saw where they were on an island and the hurricane struck, they tied themselves to trees and hoped for the best.

hanging out for 12 hours over Cuba... I cannot imagine.

They are probably very prepared to deal with them, having experienced them for centuries.

I was just pondering what happens when a strong storm hits.

in the interior; they have high ground to evacuate to.

...we don't hear anything about that. don't they have these guys in cages outside?

It's more or less that simple and also very effective.

Cuba has a very small population considering the size of the island..and they know they will only be there a few days at most.. Since they are a socialist country, they know the government will provide for them...

Yes - indeed :

With Hurricane Gustav striking just a week ago, Cuba's internationally acclaimed emergency services are being stretched to the limit, the BBC's Michael Voss reports from Havana.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7603319.stm

Repeat : "Cuba's internationally acclaimed emergency services"

What a missed opportunity..

found the article.. we offered..BUT with long strings.. not as a gesture of humanitarian aid..

Did we demand that China toe the line when we sent aid for their earthquake??

Rice: No Lifting of Cuba Embargo
By VOA News
07 September 2008
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-09-07-voa13.cfm

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that it would not be wise now to end an economic embargo against Cuba.

Rice made the comment during a visit to Morocco today, in response to a statement by Cuba's foreign ministry declining a U.S. offer of hurricane relief.

The Foreign Ministry in Havana issued a statement Saturday saying it appreciated the U.S. government's gesture. But the statement said the U.S. should end its economic embargo against the island if it really wants to help Cuba.

Rice said today that Washington would be responsive to Cuba's request if the government freed political prisoners and had a process in place for free and fair elections. She said nothing like that seems to have occurred.

Last week, U.S. officials said they were prepared to provide assistance to Cuban citizens through non-government organizations.

U.S. officials said the offer to send aid was in keeping with past moves to send disaster aid to Cuba and did not mark a shift in U.S. policy toward Havana.

In 2005, Cuba offered to send 1,600 physicians to the United States to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast. But Washington said Cuban help was not needed.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

How sad that we would refuse to help our neighbor. There are far worse governments out there that we are more then happy to be pals with.

I hope sanity returns to the WH someday.

and I don't think it was ever an issue with Russia. I'm guessing they'll both help.

Rice said today that Washington would be responsive to Cuba's request if the government freed political prisoners

Political prisoners like the ones we're holding at Gitmo? Hmm?

and had a process in place for free and fair elections.

Lordy, we don't even have that ourselves anymore.

Sad to say, the flaming hypocrisy of these two demands probably doesn't even occur to her. :eyes:

U.S. officials said they were prepared to provide assistance to Cuban citizens through non-government organizations.

At least there's that.

Wind and water.

Moving higher takes care of the first danger. It doesn't even have to be that far inland to escape the storm surge. They need about 25-30 ft above sea-level and in a mountainous country like Cuba, that is easily done.

Strong buildings/shelters takes care of the second. A number of government built buildings designed to double as shelters (like using schools as we do here in the US). Cuba is in hurricane alley so they have shelters.

Afterward, you need to get supplies to the effected area. That's the challenge in Cuba.

I didn't think about that.

It's just hard to imagine moving an entire country to a region.

Maybe there are a few lessons we could learn from them!