Please refer to the attached file. Description of the crisis Nearly one year after Hurricane Melissa, its effects continue to shape humanitarian conditions in eastern Cuba, compounded by an energy and fuel crisis that deepened further between May and August 2026. Melissa made landfall in eastern Cuba on 29 October 2025 as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph (195 km/h) causing severe flooding, landslides, and significant storm-surge impacts across the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, and Guantanamo. Close to 2.2 million people were affected, with no fatalities reported (OCHA, 2025a). More than 215,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, affecting an estimated 645,000 people, half of whom are considered vulnerable. Of the 642 healthcare institutions that sustained damage, all are now operational and essential services have been restored across the affected provinces, although repairs to address the remaining hurricane related damage are ongoing (PAHO/WHO, 2026a). Around 450,000 people lacked access to safe water in the immediate aftermath (OCHA, 2025c). Livelihoods were also heavily impacted: at least 158,000 hectares of crops were damaged or destroyed – including grains, cassava, plantains, and coffee – alongside significant losses to fishing vessels and livestock (OCHA, 2025b; IOM, 2025). Recovery has been particularly challenging due to pre-existing structural vulnerabilities and the cumulative effects of prior disasters, including Hurricanes Oscar and Rafael in 2024, from which many communities had not yet fully recovered (IFRC, 2025). The situation has been further aggravated since end of 2025 by concurrent outbreaks of dengue, oropouche, and chikungunya, declared by Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), severe energy and fuel constraints and supply chain disruption due to external factors that have limited the access to essential services and items throughout 2026. Cuba is also experiencing severe energy and fuel constraints that have become a dominant compounding factor across all sectors. Since January 2026, disruptions in petroleum product imports – linked to broader geopolitical dynamics and international market conditions – have sharply reduced fuel availability nationwide (ACAPS, 2026). The national electricity grid experienced repeated nationwide collapses, including two failures within one week in March, three within nine days in July and another major grid failure in early August (Reuters, 2026a). By August, electricity generation covered less than one third of national demand, compared with 45 per cent in January, and some areas experienced outages of more than 30 hours (OCHA, 2026). The effects of these energy and fuel constraints are wide-ranging and cross-cutting. With more than 80 per cent of Cuba’s water pumping infrastructure electricity-dependent, prolonged blackouts are severely affecting access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (IFRC, 2026). In August, around 3.5 million people were affected by water-supply disruptions (OCHA, 2026). Close to one million people depend on water tanker trucks, many of which face operational limitations due to reduced fuel availability (OCHA, 2026). Solid waste collection has been significantly reduced in many areas, heightening public health risks. The health system continued to face severe pressure. By May, more than 100,000 patients were awaiting delayed surgical procedures, including approximately 12,000 children. As of March 2026, all 46 blood banks were experiencing operational constraints; while interruptions to electricity dependent services placed 2,888 dialysis patients at heightened risk (OCHA/UNCT, 2026). More than 32,000 pregnant women also faced increased risks due to limited access to diagnostic services, transportation for obstetric emergencies and reliable electricity for maternal and neonatal care. Routine immunisation services remained operational but were under growing pressure from cold-chain disruptions, transport constraints and supply shortages (United Nations System in Cuba, 2026; PAHO/WHO, 2026). In August, cold-chain disruptions put the routine immunisation of nearly 70,000 children at risk (OCHA, 2026). In the social sphere, reduced access to food, essential services, and income has deepened existing vulnerabilities. In addition, household diets in 2026 were often inadequate in energy intake and insufficiently healthy or diverse, amid persistent inflation, reduced purchasing power, fuel shortages and reduced availability of domestic and imported food (WFP, 2026). In July, year-on-year inflation in the formal market reached 20.7 per cent, with food prices up 26.4 per cent (ONEI, 2026). These dynamics reflect the convergence of compounding pressures: the energy and fuel constraints, the ongoing recovery needs in communities affected by Hurricane Melissa, and the persistent deteriorating health situation together place Cuban communities – particularly in the eastern provinces and those recently affected by arboviruses and hepatitis A outbreaks – at heightened and escalating risk.
Cuba | Hurricane Melissa – Operation Update #5 (MDRCU013)
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