In the midst of a seismic emergency that alarmed the residents of the southern region of eastern Cuba this morning, a Cuban mother delivered her baby. This birth, a symbol of hope and life amid adversity, concluded successfully with the arrival of the newborn.
Despite the challenging conditions, a team of specialists at the Mariano Pérez Balí Hospital in Bartolomé Masó, a mountainous area in Granma, managed the delivery. Images shared by official leaders and journalists revealed the makeshift delivery room, seemingly set up in a hospital corridor.
Ruber Meriño Medina, a political leader from the area, described the birth as occurring "in wartime conditions, among aftershocks," a phrase that politicizes, as often seen in Cuban official discourse, what is fundamentally a personal and human moment during a crisis.
This Sunday, thousands were forced to seek shelter due to several earthquakes in eastern Cuba, with the most significant being a 6.0 magnitude and a 6.7 magnitude, occurring less than an hour apart. Thus far, the National Seismological Service has recorded at least 300 aftershocks from the earthquake, centered southeast of Pilón in Granma, with at least 15 noticeable to the population.
In both Granma and Santiago de Cuba, social media users have reported damage to homes and state buildings, highlighting the collapse of structures and the cracking of walls.