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Letter: Ivan and Katrina

Published 28 September 2005

From Graham Noble

Your article mentions that hurricane Ivan “veered from its original New Orleans-bound course last year”, but it doesn’t mention where it “veered” to (10 September, p 8). In fact it struck Cuba, with at least as much devastating force as Katrina struck Louisiana.

But this went largely unreported in our media, possibly because the much-maligned government of Cuba had taken the trouble to prepare for this predictable event, rather than relying on luck and charity. Nearly 2 million people were evacuated from the path of the storm, in a systematic and orderly fashion, and not one Cuban was killed. It’s not exactly rocket science.

Fareham, Hampshire, UK

Issue no. 2519 published 1 October 2005

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