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“When it Comes to Hurricanes the U.S. can Learn a Lot from Cuba: “As Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday, knocking power out to the entire city of New Orleans and beyond, many people nervously wondered, “will Ida be another Katrina?” Unfortunately, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s record since Katrina, particularly under the Trump administration, has not improved much.”(But AH! Now down in Stalinist Cuba:)“Hurricane Flora…prompted Fidel Castro to establish a civil defense system in 1966 that became a global model according to the United Nations….When the hurricane hit….Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl, his Argentine comrade-in-arms Ernesto “Che” Guevara and other revolutionary leaders personally put themselves in harm’s way to lead rescue and relief operations for those who could not escape.Seeking to combat the hurricane as if it were a human enemy, Castro wore a soldier’s helmet during rescue operations. He flew in an army helicopter that landed as close as possible to affected areas and then rode in — and sometimes even drove — amphibious vehicles to reach victims. In one harrowing moment, the overflowing La Rioja River nearly drowned him in his vehicle, but local peasants and soldiers rescued their leader just in time by attaching a tow cable to a tree to prevent his vehicle from sinking. One survivor of the hurricane recalled to me how Castro went “everywhere” to help victims while another remembered that medical care was readily available in hospitals for her children when she needed it right after the storm.” (Entire amazing article from some ñángara professor named Mikael Wolfe at the Washington Post here.) ...
