Cuba subsidizes home materials for Sandy victims

Posted on Thursday, 11.08.12



Cuba subsidizes home materials for Sandy victims

The Associated Press



HAVANA -- The Cuban government will offer subsidies and loans to help

islanders rebuild the more than 200,000 homes damaged by Hurricane

Sandy, official newspapers said Thursday.



Beginning next week Cubans affected by Sandy can buy building materials

at half-price, according to an official notice published by the

Communist party daily Granma and other papers.



Residents of the eastern provinces of Guantanamo, Holguin and Santiago

can also seek bank credits to rebuild, and those who lack sufficient

income can apply for further subsidies up to the entire cost of the

materials.



"The government made the decision for the budget of the State to

establish a subsidy of 50 percent of the current prices for construction

materials that will be sold to families whose homes were totally or

partially destroyed," the notice read.



Sandy hit the island near the eastern city of Santiago on Oct. 25 as a

category 2 hurricane, killing 11 people, crumbling homes, tearing off

rooftops, toppling utility poles and knocking out power to hundreds of

thousands of people.



There has been no concrete figure on economic losses, but officials have

said 226,000 homes were damaged and have talked about

multimillion-dollar hits to crops, industry, hospitals and schools.



Earlier this week the U.N.'s World Food Program said Sandy could be the

most devastating storm to hit that part of Cuba in at least a

half-century, and announced a food aid program to provide a month's

worth of rations to 500,000 people.



http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/08/3087820/cuba-subsidizes-home-materials.html