Recovery progresses in Artemisa, the most damaged area in the country 

In Artemisa, the cleanup of the damages left by the hurricane continues, a task that should be concluded by the end of the week. Photo: José Manuel Correa

The school year resumed this week in Artemisa, a province heavily hit by Hurricane Rafael, which hit the territory on November 6 with category three on the Saffir Simpson scale (with winds of more than 178 kilometers per hour).Adding alternatives in homes and institutions, all schools in Artemisa were opened, informed the member of the Political Bureau and president of the Provincial Defense Council, Gladys Martínez Verdecia, at the meeting of the National Defense Council, which is headed daily by its President, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, to follow up on the recovery.In response to a question from the Head of State on how classroom attendance is going in these first days, Martínez Verdecia specified that the average in the province is 66.6%, although there are territories such as Candelaria and San Cristóbal that exceed 90%. The situation will improve, he said, as the recovery of vital services in the municipalities progresses.Precisely on the electric service, he pointed out that at midday of this Tuesday, the recovery was at 63.55 %, "the estimate for the night is 69 %; Alquízar and Caimito are the municipalities with the lowest percentage", he added.Today, he said, a reinforcement brigade from Havana was incorporated to Caimito; and another one from Guantánamo is on its way to support Alquízar, which are added to those that, from all over the country, are working in the province. He pointed out that the municipality of San Cristóbal is already at 97% and the city of Artemisa at 58%.Fixed telephony is at 91 % and mobile telephony at 88.8 %; likewise, reinforcements were added to the province of Mayabaque -which has already returned to normal- in order to advance the communications works. In the case of water supply, she specified that it has reached 84.5% of the population of Artemisa.The President of the Defense Council added that the reconstruction work continues in the damaged hospitals, as well as the cleaning up of the damages left by the hurricane, a task that should be concluded by the end of the week.Regarding the recovery of houses in the provinces affected by the hurricanes, the Minister of Construction, René Mesa Villafaña, assured that the materials for the replacement of the affected roofs are in the territories, and they are being delivered for the houses and other damaged infrastructures.In Artemisa, the most damaged area, 21,054 houses have been affected, of which 310 have been resolved.