Why Cubans Do It Better

Evacuations, that is. In the past 10 years of hurricane activity in Cuba, there have only been 23 Cubans killed, whereas just last week Hurricane Gustav saw 26 deaths in New Orleans alone. The reason Cuba's hurricane safety success lies in their evacuation system, which can only occur so successfully in a communist country. Evacuation plans are distributed in advance, and evacuation drills are a regular occurrence. State news media issue early warnings and civil defense officials activate local response networks. The government also provide evacuation shelters and the day before the hurricane volunteer civil defense workers go door to door to ensure everyone's safety. Special attention is paid to pregnant women, mothers with young children, elderly, and handicapped to make sure they are out of harm's way. Because the government controls most the nation's resources, they don't have to buy resources from private companies, as the United States is forced to do. Also most Cubans work for the government and thus don't have to worry about losing money from taking time off work. Lastly, success is so strong because of the citizen's trust in their country. Meteorologists have been very accurate in the past and thus citizens are very willing to comply with evacuation orders. These are just a few things that may contribute to Cuba's overwhelming success in hurricane evacuation over the United States and other Caribbean nations.