The National Defence Council reviewed the actions for gradual recovery in all the affected territories

The President of the National Defence Council (CDN), Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, highlighted the intense work being carried out in Granma and Santiago de Cuba in response to the effects of Sunday’s earthquakes near Pilón; the work being done in Artemisa, Havana and Mayabeque to recover from Hurricane Rafael; and the work being carried out by the people of Guantánamo to erase the traces of Hurricane Oscar.

The First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee and President of the Republic led yesterday, by video conference, the CDN check-up, which was also headed by the members of the Political Bureau, Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organisation of the Central Committee, and Salvador Valdés Mesa, Vice-President of the Republic.

In view of the current seismic situation, special measures have been adopted in Santiago de Cuba for the whole of this week, including the amplification of information to the population, in which, after overcoming the psychological effect of the tremor to the south of Pilón, the perception of danger is decreasing, informed the first secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, for whom it is still necessary to remain alert.

She explained that this Monday night an exercise was planned for the province in order to exercise the steering systems in the event of a strong earthquake.

He recalled that the National Centre for Seismological Research (Cenais) has recorded since Sunday more than 1 130 aftershocks, more than fifty of them perceptible.

According to preliminary data, more than 230 houses in the municipalities closest to the epicentre have been affected by the earthquake in Santiago de Cuba. Damage was reported in some state, educational and health institutions, among others.

On the situation in Granma, the CDN was informed by the member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Jorge Luis Broche Lorenzo, who highlighted the organised response of the political and government authorities in the province to the earthquake.

He highlighted the work of the members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, Public Health, the Electrical Union and the rest of the institutions.

In Granma, he summarised, they have acted «with professionalism and speed» in the face of this «sudden event of great magnitude».