Major General (r) Ramón Pardo Guerra, chief of the National Civil Defense Staff of Cuba,

Havana, November 7 (RHC)-- Major General (r) Ramón Pardo Guerra, chief of the National Civil Defense Staff (EMNDC) of Cuba, called on Friday for actions in line with the disaster risk reduction plans for the response to tropical storms and other extreme hydro-meteorological events.
 
Given the threat posed to Cuba by the Eta tropical depression, the Civil Defense Working Body of the National Defense Council met Friday.
 
Pardo Guerra urged local authorities to anticipate and avoid any possible risk in the territories, protect the population and the economy, and move on to the country's recovery as soon as the recovery phase is declared.
 
Dr. Miriam Teresita Llanes, chief of the Forecast Center of the Meteorology Institute, explained that Eta could affect Cuba's central region in the next 48 hours.
 
In this regard, the head of the Civil Defense reminded that the response to this atmospheric organism, with the possibility of becoming a tropical or subtropical storm, becomes more complicated with the fight against COVID-19, since, in the evacuation of the population, it is necessary to ensure physical distance and that there are no crowds of people.

Taking into account the gradual deterioration of weather conditions and the possible evolution of this system, as well as the level of soil saturation and the filling of reservoirs, the provinces of Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spiritus, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Matanzas, were under a Tropical Storm Warning.
 
The Western provinces of La Habana, Artemisa, Mayabeque, Pinar del Rio, and the Isle of Youth Municipality remained under a Tropical Storm Watch.