Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
By Enrique Atiénzar Rivero/ Contributor.
The tragedy of November 9, 1932, a meteorological phenomenon that left 3,033 victims, remains in the memory of the inhabitants of the town of Santa Cruz del Sur.
The force of the sea and the violence of the wind hit this town of humble fishermen. Everything was devastated, a pathetic image difficult to describe.
Santa Cruz was certainly surrounded by the sea and it was not until many years later that some families began to settle on those lands, not with the promptness that circumstances demanded, due to the slow and ineffective solution of the political authorities of the time.
Still, 91 years later, there are those who believe, erroneously, that what happened was a sea wave, which is characterized by a seismic phenomenon, related to tidal waves or an earthquake on the seabed, which creates an immense wave that travels thousands of miles.
Dr. José Rubiera, an outstanding Cuban meteorologist, in conversation with this journalist stressed that the sea level does not occur in our geographical area, but in the Pacific Ocean, as a space of greatest action.
What happened in the southern region was related to a very intense hurricane, category 5, accompanied by one of the dangerous phenomena, along with torrential rain and winds: the so-called upwelling or storm surge.
In current times, with enough time, the population receives information from the Civil Defense about the possibility of tropical cyclones or hurricanes passing through the geographical area to avoid risks of loss of human life and material resources.
Those who persisted in living next to the sea now understand a little more the risk involved in residing on that coastal strip and recently agreed to move to multi-family buildings financed by the State, after cyclones Ike and Paloma.
For the Revolution there is nothing of greater value than the life of a human being, which is why in recent years it has not spared a thought in making million-dollar investments to provide the country with a range of applications in the field of Meteorology, all for the common good of the people that confirms the reality of: A before and after the cyclone of '32. (Photo: Adelante/ Archive)
