Six months after Hurricane Ian left a path of devastation in western Cuba, reconstruction work in the hardest-hit province of Pinar del Río is progressing slowly. As the news agency ACN reports, only 21,000 of 76,000 damaged roofs have been repaired. A total of 102,000 buildings in the province were affected by storm damage.
The provincial director for housing in Pinar del Río, Andrés Martín Carmona, blamed the scarcity of building materials such as walls, roof panels and cement, as well as the lack of workers for the slow reconstruction. In particular in the small community of Vueltabajo, known for its excellent tobacco, there are still large residues to complain about. By the end of the year 2000, new residential buildings are to be built there, of which only 170 have been completed so far.
To make up for the lack of cement, in some areas less durable mud bricks have been produced as an alternative for building houses, although these are not available in sufficient numbers either.
All 11 municipalities in the province are affected by Hurricane Ian. The greatest progress in reconstruction has been made in the tourist resort of Viñales, the provincial capital of Pinar del Río and the municipality of Consolación del Sur, while San Luis and San Juan y Martínez are still badly damaged by storms.
The storm made landfall on September 27 as a Category 3 of 5 hurricane with winds up to 135 miles per hour. Five people lost their lives. More than 50,000 residents were evacuated in advance by the Cuban civil defense.