Quarrying by a private operator who was leased state land by the Estate Management and Business Development Company (EMBD), under the former PNM administration, has resulted in the frightening land phenomenon in Caparo which is threatening to engulf an entire village. Ministry of Works' director of drainage, Shamshad Mohammed, said the nearby village of Ravine Sable could disappear underground during the coming rainy season, if the nearby, massive crater-like formation continued to expand. "Every minute a piece of dirt falling. Right where we standing (at the edge of the crater) could cave in anytime," a frightened villager said last Wednesday.
Mohammed said that's why the ministry had developed a plan to start work over the weekend. "That's why we're building a berm (embankment) along the Ravine Sable side of the lake. "We have to strengthen the periphery of the lake to prevent the bank from being broken on that side. "We also need to do corrective work along the Caparo River, which includes reconstruction and increasing the capacity of the water course."
Asked if construction of the long-awaited Mamoral Dam would have prevented the Caparo River from bursting its banks, leading to the frightening phenomenon, Mohammed said it was a fair assumption. He said the ministry was now looking into "some redesign" of the dam and would make a decision on the matter. Joan Latchman, head of the Seismic Research Centre at University of the West Indies, St Augustine, and volcanologists were at the site on Wednesday. "There has been no earthquake or volcano to explain this," Latchman said. She said conditions at the unusual occurrence, however, bore on the kind of response you would get when an earthquake occurs. With heavy rainfall, she said she would not be surprised if the land eroded further into the village. Quarrying activities, coupled with flooding from Caparo River, are believed to be the cause of the recent creation of a gigantic canyon with a lake along the Old Trainline Road, which is threatening to further erode into the village.
ABOVE: Works Minister Jack Warner, second from right, Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Caroni East MP, right, and Rudy Indarsingh, Couva South MP, listen to a villager in Caparo last Wednesday.
The event has sent villagers into shock and fear. "One more flood and this reaching into the village," resident, Rajin Nanan said last Wednesday. Nanan and other villagers crowded the site, which was visited by new Works Minister, Jack Warner and a team of ministry officials. "If they continue digging, we will end up in problems," villager Carlton Deonarine added. Betty St Clair cut in soberly: "We feel scared and worried. We believe there could be more erosion. The land is breaking up minute by minute." They said dust from the quarry affected them severely during the recent drought, but they were intimidated into not protesting and blocked from coming near the site by security guards. "Sand used to be in people house, food. People were getting sick. Sometimes you would have as much as two inches of sand on your doorstep. "But you couldn't complain. They used to threaten people. We were afraid to protest," a spokesman said.
Indra Morgan, of Palmiste, said for the past 12 years residents had been living like prisoners, because they had to close all their doors and windows against the dust. However, even as villagers spoke, a backhoe worked feverishly down in the crater. The Sunday Guardian was told it belonged to the quarry, and workers were trying to build a new road. This was despite a statement from Councillor Sahadeo Boondoo that Warner recommended cessation of all mining, cordoning off of the area, and promised to send security to the site.
Telfer: Operator pays EMBD
EMBD chairman Noel Garcia said he heard a report on the matter was being prepared by officials, and he had asked to see it. Garcia said he couldn't comment, and referred the Sunday Guardian to Ian Telfer, EMBD's divisional manager, projects. Telfer said the land was leased to a private operator, who paid the EMBD. He said he was unable to divulge the name of the operator or his company until he consulted with Garcia. Telfer said it was actually a good thing that the mining depression was there to hold the large volume of water coming from Caparo River, which would have descended into the villages and wreaked further havoc. He said he visited the site and was in discussion with Mohammed over the rectification of the problem.