What can one of the world's poorest nations teach us about hurricane evacuations?

A lot, actually.

The country is Cuba, which is not only the most populous nation in the Caribbean, but also is right in the center of Hurricane Alley. So you would think -- given the nation's poverty -- that tropical storms would have claimed many lives in this communist nation.

In fact, some 14 hurricanes have struck Cuba in the last two decades -- but fewer than 40 people have died, an average of fewer than three people for each major storm. When Hurricane Georges raked the region in 1998, the death toll in the nearby Dominican Republic was about 200. In Cuba: 0.

To look at another way, when Katrina first struck affluent South Florida as a not-too-powerful-yet Category 1 storm on its way to the Gulf, it killed 11 people there.

How does Cuba do it?

"There's no improvisation here. Cuba has a plan to face hurricanes. The United States doesn't," [top weatherman Jose] Rubiera said in an interview. "It is vital that everyone be well informed, without sensationalism or cause for alarm. We do not turn hurricanes into a public spectacle."

Collective evacuation avoids the "madness" of the traffic jams that blocked roads leading out of New Orleans prior to Katrina, he said.