Hurricane Irma hit Cuba on 8th-9th September. According to local emergency services it battered the town of Esmeralda in the eastern province of Camaguey for a full nine hours, with winds in excess of 155 miles per hour. Over 7000 people had to be evacuated.
Archbishop Wilfredo Pino Estevez from Camagüey told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) he assessed the damage once the storm ended and said saw "great destruction".
He added: "When we arrived in Esmeralda, we celebrated Mass there with the handful of people who were able to attend.
"There too we saw many damaged homes, partially or totally demolished, roofless, etc. Some of the people were still visibly scared. 'What a long night that was!" was the most common thing I heard from the people I talked to."
The charity said a church which was recently restored suffered extensive damage, as well as a chapel in the small town of Jiquí.
Archbishop Estevez told ACN: "It was painful to see our church totally grazed to the ground, with the benches smashed and the holy pictures ruined."
Ulrich Kny, ACN's project for projects in Cuba, said that the priorities for aid will most likely be the rebuilding of the ruined churches in Jaronú and Jiquí.
He added that if the local bishops requested help, ACN would provide aid "so that the Church can act as an instrument of God's mercy and help remedy some of the damage caused by the hurricane, which also did not spare other dioceses, such as Ciego de Ávila, Santa Clara, Matanzas and Havana".
ACN said the death toll in Cuba caused by Hurricane Irma currently stands at 10.
