A shipment of humanitarian aid managed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) arrived this Thursday in Bayamo, Granma, to be distributed among families affected by the hurricane Melissa that devastated eastern Cuba in late October 2025.
Specialists and volunteers from the Cuban Red Cross received and stored the supplies, which are part of an operation designed to benefit approximately 100,000 people over a period of 24 months.
The shipment includes personal hygiene items, sanitary pads for women, various types of tools, tarps for roofs, and rechargeable lamps, materials that address the most basic needs of those who lost or had their homes damaged.
Jorge Verdecia Ramírez, head of the Operations and Relief Group of the Red Cross in Granma, confirmed that the distribution will begin next week in at least three of the municipalities that were most severely affected by the cyclone.
"This assistance is primarily aimed at the individuals and families most affected and vulnerable, and it will be distributed according to the humanitarian criteria and needs established by the humanitarian organization," declared Verdecia Ramírez to the local media Radio Ciudad Monumento.
The official specified that part of the resources has already been used to deliver kits in critical areas of Río Cauto, Jiguaní, and Cauto Cristo, three of the municipalities in Granma where the consequences of the hurricane were most severe.
The Cauto River reached historic levels following the impact of Melissa, worsening the flooding in that eastern part of the island.
At the provincial level, the hurricane caused over 1,400 damages to housing in nine municipalities of Granma, with dozens of total and partial collapses, as well as damage to more than 52,000 hectares of crops.
The magnitude of the disaster led the IFRC to launch an emergency appeal for 15 million Swiss francs—about 18 million dollars—to assist the most vulnerable populations, with an operational horizon extending until October 2027.
A first shipment of 20 tons arrived in Santiago de Cuba in November 2025, and in July of this year, the Red Cross deployed photovoltaic technology in the most affected municipalities of Granma.
The humanitarian organization warned that the recovery in Cuba after Melissa has been "slow and uneven", a statement that carries particular weight as the arrival of this shipment in Bayamo occurs almost a year after the hurricane's impact, with thousands of families still waiting to rebuild their homes and resume a minimally stable life.
The UN estimated that 2.2 million people were severely affected in the eastern provinces by Hurricane Melissa, with more than 90,000 homes damaged or destroyed nationwide.
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