Hurricane Sandy, one of the most destructive storms in years, killed 11 people and caused immeasurable suffering when it tore through eastern Cuba on Oct. 25.

The hurricane which also left 54 people dead in Haiti and destroyed 70% of that Caribbean nation’s food crops later made U.S. headlines because of the widespread chaos it caused in the New York/New Jersey area.

But Cubans won’t forget Sandy anytime soon.

Local authorities said the hurricane’s fierce winds and flooding damaged 137,000 dwellings in Santiago de Cuba alone.

Given an average of 3.5 inhabitants per dwell-ing, that means 480,000 people more than the city’s entire population suffered at least some damage to their houses and apartments.

And that doesn’t include the city of Holguín, and lesser towns throughout the eastern half of Cuba; in all, at least one million people live in areas affected by Sandy.

Government officials are saying very little about the hurricane’s impact on the Cuban economy, though it’s clear that the upcoming sugar harvest will be badly affected.

CubaNews estimates that Sandy will knock 5% to 8% off Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product, which was supposed to grow modestly this year. In 2009, the island’s GDP was estimated at $40.2 billion, which includes agriculture, industry, transportation, etc., but excludes “social GDP” components like healthcare and education.

All three of Cuba’s three nickel plants were hit either by high winds or intense rains that could have affected operations.

In the past, big storms have forced the sector to close for days or weeks, with a loss of 200 tons of nickel a day. That translates into $3.3 million worth of nickel that isn’t produced, excluding infrastructure damage. But again, nobody is releasing official information on that.

Tourism also took a big hit, with Guardalavaca Cuba’s fourth-largest tourist hub evacuated just as high season got underway. There’s still no word on damages to beaches or tourism facilities, though all hotels were shut down in the path of the advancing storm.

In addition, Cuba’s electric power transmission grid was damaged. Sandy’s path roughly paralleled the 220-kV transmission line from Santiago to Holguín knocking down hundreds of concrete and steel utility poles.

Meanwhile, humanitarian aid has been pouring in from Venezuela, while China donated $400,000 in cash and Russia sent an airplane with roofing materials and some food. Help has been coming from private sources in the United States as well. Bishop Leo Frade of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida said his office has already sent thousands of dollars to Cuba.

“Destruction of many dwellings has been considerable and some dead are among our people,” he said. “I have made an appeal to send money either to the Episcopal Relief and Development office of our church or to send money to me directly. We are concentrating on cash or check donations to quickly serve the people of Cuba.”

In addition, Frade said that through Food for the Poor, his church has assisted Hurri-cane Sandy victims in Haiti and the Dominican Republic as well.

Frade’s office is one of several U.S. NGOs lending help to Cuban victims of Sandy.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami (CCADM), Caritas and Catholic Relief Services are also working together.

Rachel Ramjattan, special projects coordinator at CCADM, said that ever since the Castro regime hiked customs duties for parcel shipments into Cuba (the rate currently stands at $4.50/lb for most shipments over 7 lbs) “we are only accepting financial contributions at this time.”

Her organization, recognizing that Cuban-Americans and others may want to direct their cash contributions toward disaster victims, has set up a website toward that effort, while simultaneously running a separate one for those elsewhere.

Along with Catholic and Episcopal groups, Nashville-based Baptist Global Response is also providing assistance to Cuba.

“We have great partners on the ground in Cuba who were able to mobilize within the first few hours. These partners are the Cuban Baptist churches themselves,” said Jeff Palmer, executive director of BGR.

“Currently, we have released a little over $100,000. We have not received many donations at this time for Cuba. These funds have come out of our disaster relief funds that we have on hand and are not recent donations.” 

Despite the Cuban customs expense that BGR will likely incur in shipping material goods to the island, it’s proceeding with such plans anyway.

“We are working on mobilizing a shipment of roofing materials as well,” said Palmer.  “This is still in the works.”