Housing Recovery Gradual after Hurricanes

HAVANA TIMES, December 27.- In a clear sign that it will take several years to fully recover from three major hurricanes in the second semester of 2008, Cuban Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez said that 23 percent of the 600,000 damaged homes have been repaired, while noting that to date only 4 percent of those totally destroyed were rebuilt. Rodriguez made his statement in an address to the Cuban parliament. He estimated the total damage to homes at US $4.997 billion, around half the damage caused by the storms to Cuba’s infrastructure, agriculture and other areas of the economy.