ABSTRACT
Every time a natural disaster occurs, lessons are learned. Things are done right and things are done wrong. That’s as true for short-term disaster relief as it is for long-term recovery. This chapter looks at two countries, Chile and Cuba, both of which have positive track records when dealing with natural disasters.
In Chile, a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 and an ensuing tsunami struck central Chile in 2010, affecting one out of every four Chileans, killing 550 people and leaving more than 250,000 families homeless. It was the sixth-largest earthquake in recorded history. Yet some areas of the country were marginalized, and an innovative Harvard-led program, Recupera Chile, collaborated to help long-term recovery.
Cuba has long been recognized for its strong hurricane preparation program, but what happens when a tornado unexpected pummels poor Havana neighborhoods? This chapter recounts how a nascent civil society, along with the diaspora, stepped in.
