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• 09 / 22 / 2008

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Firefighters get ready to get into a building that collapsed at Havana's Malecon because of heavy rains after the passage of Hurricane Ike. AFP PHOTO
Half the sum is to go toward the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies "to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to 40,000 Cubans whose lives have been devastated by the impact of the hurricanes," a government statement said.

The other half "has been set aside for the Cuba Community Development Fund to support relief and reconstruction proposals submitted by local Cuban organizations," it said.

Cuban authorities have estimated that the hurricanes caused five billion dollars in damage over the past three weeks. Seven people were reported killed in the storms, which damaged a half million homes and destroyed 63,000 residences.

(AFP)