Heavy rainfall at the Housing Development Corporation’s Mora Heights settlement in Rio Claro is causing unease to residents whose homes are still undergoing repairs, following the 6.9 magnitude earthquake last month.
Even though four weeks have passed, several residents say they are still waiting for repairs to be completed.
While some home-owners like Kion Scipio has moved back into his fully repaired house, other residents like Reeta Mohammed complained of the slow pace of works.
“It is scary living in the house right now. With the heavy rains a few days ago, we could feel the house shaking. The posts are cracked and the back staircase was broken down but never rebuilt,” Mohammed complained. She added, “Today is 25 days and I feel as if everything is at a standstill. When I ask the contractor when he will resume, he said they are waiting on designs from HDC. This is very frustrating,” Mohammed said.
She added that her family has nowhere else to go so they were taking their chances by living in the house.
“We cannot sleep in peace. The contractors have a lot of work to do in the area. The HDC is passing around to check the progress of the work and quality supervisors are not happy,” Mohammed said.
Another resident who asked not to be named, said that her lone staircase was still incomplete.
“Two weeks now it still have boxing boards and the contractor say he cannot take it out. I am not sure about the standard of work that is being done. I am not happy with what they are doing so far and my husband is thinking about sending HDC a legal letter,” she added.
MP for the area Rushton Paray said even though the construction was going on at a slow pace, he was satisfied that both contractors and the HDC were still in the area.
“Residents are frustrated because they want their homes fixed right now. The HDC has agreed to do the work by handling the repairs to major infrastructure first. The cosmetic works like the cracked mortar will be done afterwards,” Paray said. He noted that the HDC has been monitoring the work.
“The most I can do is liaise with HDC and make sure that the contractors do not leave until all the work is completed,” Paray said.
HDC’s managing director Brent Lyons could not be reached for comment as calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.