The vice president of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, called on the international community here on Saturday to get ready to face the great social disasters occurring in the world such as poverty and unemployment.

"Climate change is changing the world, but we can not forget that in the 21st century our planet is convulsing essentially due to the social catastrophe," he said.

Cabrisas Ruiz stressed that millions of people around the world are subjected to poverty, unemployment, hunger, illiteracy and other forms of discrimination and social exclusion.

He added that it can give the idea of the magnitude of the social catastrophe.

The Cuban vice president also noted that the gap separating rich and poor countries is scandalous respecting to the levels of income and human poverty.

Cabrisas made the remarks on Saturday during the closing of the 8th International Congress on Disasters and the 4th International Conference of Firemen held in Havana in this week, attended by 400 delegates from 37 countries.