A Moruga family of eight is living in fear that a major landslip will eventually destroy their home at Branch Road, Fifth Company Village. Martha Paul has already lost her business, a parlour, which was her only source of income and she is pleading to the authorities to help her before she loses her home.
“Right now it have me scared because I don’t know if my house, if my house falls where I go live. Is a very hard thing. I have my children and grandchildren living with me here and for the longest while they neglect me. They could ah come her long time before it even get worse.”
She blamed several WASA leaks and poor drainage for the condition of the road.
Recalling that her mother who is now deceased first reported the landslip 20 years ago, she said several other reports were made during the years but nothing was ever done.
Due to the rapid soil erosion, Paul said two weeks ago she was forced to close her on.
On Friday the situation got worse after the WASA line ruptured.
“When I get up 2 o’clock in the morning I hearing like a river in the back by me and when I open my door is just water coming down there. And this whole big crack, it just open out and water just gushing and it coming to my house.” Paul said WASA came and turned off the water but the damage has already been done and she is scared.
“I praying God not to send no rain come down that is it there, the house could fall with me and my children and them in it. So I need them to come and do something to assist me or give me a house or something to evacuate from this place.”
She lamented that five months ago a neighbour and his family living across from her home was forced to leave after their house collapsed. Also, afraid that a light pole could come crashing down at any time, Paul decided to block the area of the landslip on both sides of the road to prevent any further damage by vehicular traffic.
“It have a lot of water trucks and big cement truck passing through here and the heavier things that pass through here it break it down faster that is why I block the road. I block the road so that they come and do something about it.”
She said her common-law husband is not working presently and they have no money to do any repairs to their home which is shifting slowly. MP Michelle Benjamin visited her on Friday and she promised to try to assist.
Meanwhile, former PNM councillor Francis Paul who is now the social media officer for the constituency, said the MP is looking at it but they are trying to get the various ministries and WASA to address the issue.
He said they want the Minister of Works, the Minister of Public Utilities and the Minister of Local Government to tour Moruga which is plagued with landslides and other road issues.
“It has been exasperated with WASA. Most of the landslide problem is a result of the leaking lines from WASA…”— Sascha Wilson