Telephone communications with Cuba are working fine.

Radio services are working as well.

You can watch and hear reports on the island's

international television broadcasting service,

Cubavision International.

My experience is that the video quality sometimes

works better if you don't blow the image up to full-

screen size. Reception is intermittent at times, but

it's something to see. The sound is more consistent

than the video track. Windows Media Player needed

http://www.cubavision.cubaweb.cu/tv_cubana.asx

Spanish-speakers, or those who want to learn or

improve theirs can tune in to Radio Reloj, the

24-7 news service which has been operating for

58 years. It's working just fine. They continue

as always with local and international reporting:

http://www.radioreloj.cu/

I reached four friends this morning without difficulty.

Three tell me they have no electricity, water or gas,

but that the electricity was turned off last night at

about 6 PM for safety's sake: so that no one would be

electrocuted by fallen power lines. Once the lines are

checked by workers from the electrical company, they

will be turned on. This is expected at mid-day. Not

sure about the gas and water. One of the four has an

emergency bottle of gas. He was about to shower in

cold water before going to work, but they realized he

could use his emergency tank of gas to heat his water.

63,000 people were evacuated in Havana. Report below.

Here in Los Angeles I can certainly say we're very

fortunate that our electrical system is working well.

We rarely have blackouts here, and so if we were ever

to have one which lasted more than a couple of hours,

we'd be shocked and surprised. We'd be disoriented if

it happened here. Cubans aren't shocked, though they

aren't happy. They're glad the rain is now over and

they expect to soon have their electricity restored.

There's been a lot of water damage from what I'm

hearing from friends.

This is where those wonderful little battery-operated

radios everyone was buying last fall and earlier in

the year are coming in very handy! These radios, made

in China, have four bands: AM, two FM and TV, and are

powered by solar, AA batteries, or a hand-operated

crank if nothing else is available, make it possible

to maintain communications in case of an emergency

situation, such as this hurricane. Of course such

radios would also be good in the event of a non-

natural emergency as well... They cost $10.00 and

were the hottest selling item in Cuba when they

were in stock. You see people with them wherever

you go: parking lot attendants, people at home

fixing cars or doing whatever. They're wonderful

little devices.

Here's the weather map where you can see that the

hurricane has moved off the island to the west:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge/byx_N0Z_lp.html

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Nearly 63,000 Citizens were Evacuated in Havana

Havana, July 9 (AIN) The number of Havana citizens who were

evacuated reached 62,908 since the early in the morning of

Friday when a hurricane warning was issued faced with the

imminent arrival of hurricane Dennis.

The head of the Provincial Evacuation Commission, Oneida

Rosales del Toro, told reporters that 22,384 people

evacuated themselves to neighbors’ and relatives’ homes,

while another 40,554 were taken to safe places allocated by

the Havana authorities.

The initiative reflects the high spirit of solidarity of

the Cuban people, said del Toro, who noted that those

evacuated are residents of coastal areas which are liable

to flooding, or live near rivers or in houses that could

partially or totally collapse in a hurricane.

Some of the evacuated people also live in high buildings

where the strong winds could cause damage, said the

official and added that some 510 shelters provide basic

conditions to assist the evacuated people, and that

included water, food and medical assistence.

Major evacuations took place in the Havana municipalities

of Centro Habana, Arroyo Naranjo, Habana Vieja and 10 de

Octubre.





Walter Lippmann, CubaNews

http://www.walterlippmann.com