| SOMETCUBA Bulletin |
Volume 6 Number 1 |
January 2000 |
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Minimum chronology of big nature disasters occurred on Cuba in the XX century
Introduction
Natural disasters have been recurrent events along History. They cause great human and material loses worldwide. However, only over the last 20 to 30 years they have been subjects of particular attention. United Nations decided, for instance, to declare and name the period between the years 1990 and 2000 as "International Decade for Reduction of Natural Disasters".
The ending of a century, identified by many as "the century of information" is therefore a good pretext to make a compilation of the greatest disasters of this kind occurred in Cuba.
It is necessary to state that natural disasters are not events to be compared between them individually. The effects of the most intense tornado can’t be compared with those of an earthquake, for instance, even though the later had been one of modest proportions. This is due, in the first place, to the spatial scales on which both phenomena occur.
On a planetary scale, earthquakes occupy a leading position with regard to the death told and material damages, since they generally affect extensive regions and they can’t, so far, be predicted by science; but they are very closely followed by great hurricanes and flooding. 2000 million people currently live on regions that coincide with seismic zones of the Planet and 1400 million on countries where hurricanes are a potential threat.
The following chronology gathers part of the most noticeable disasters occurred in Cuba over the last 100 years. On this selection, that includes 10 events, we intend to present a sample of the diversity of catastrophes that have occurred, taking into account, in the first place, the number of victims caused.
Figures of fatal victims, injured and affected people and material damages produced as consequence of such disasters, didn’t coincide on every different source consulted. We took therefore, those that seemed more reliable to us. Whenever a (e) appears, it means that the figure is estimated.
In the case of Cuba, it is necessary to stand the transcendence and reiteration of catastrophes caused by storm surges due to tropical cyclones. The importance of studying and forecasting them is shown, among other reasons, by the fact that 92 out of the 169 municipalities of the island have coasts. The province of Pinar del Río stands particularly out, since all of its municipalities have coasts and it is, besides, one of the most threatened by the hit of tropical cyclones every season.
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