On the night of 27 January 2019, a tornado decided to take a stroll through some Havana neighbourhoods, leaving severe material damage in its brief journey, many were injured and even people lost their lives. It was Sunday. Nobody could believe that this was happening.
Cubans have experience with storms, hurricanes, and cyclones, but tornadoes walking happily through the city? No, this is not something we are used to.
Recently I was looking at these photos and thinking about how ephemeral everything around us is, how fragile we are, how life can turn upside down from one moment to the next and if we were not able to take care of treasuring moments every day, to value the beautiful things that happen to us... well, how sad.
Many times our lives become this when we allow it, a joyful walk of a tornado. This one no one invited, it came to warn us, perhaps.
For three days I went out with my camera to document it, as part of my job, but also in a group of friends who gathered food and everything we could to donate to those affected by this terrible meteorological event.
This is my entry for the #Monomad Challenge
These were the first photos before reaching the most affected areas.
Surviving that night I think was worth more than a dent in the car...
At that time I had a Nikon and a 70-200 mm lens. I could keep the distance, which in these cases is optimal.
Please... I think this photo is needed here. It is striking the colour after such a fateful night.
This shocked me... the concrete ceiling and walls simply flew off.
I remember that I took these photos from the roof of a hospital we visited to assess the damage.
I also remember feeling so sad in those days seeing the destruction and what people were going through... maybe I'm not qualified to work as a photojournalist in war zones. No, definitely not.
Not so much of a problem here... it was just me taking advantage of the altitude to get these views.
It was very strange, because you could see one block in ruins and the next one as if nothing had happened.
The water tanks of the Daughters of Galicia hospital in Diez de Octubre.
Back on the streets.
I had to be very careful because there could be live wires, i.e. with electricity.
🤐🙏
I have hundreds of photos. It was difficult to choose these. I'm sure the best ones were left there.
A photo of the group of friends when we went out to help with donations.
