HEAVY winds accompanied by rainfall on Wednesday morning in the East Berbice Corentyne area has left a family contemplating their losses after their one storey wooden house collapsed while they were inside.

Roopranie Latchminarine called “Sharda”, 47  of Lot 68, Section B Number 67 Village, East Berbice Corentyne is pleading for assistance to help her fix her home. She recalled hearing the loud wind and within minutes, felt a shaking and then a loud crashing sound. She explained, she and her sixteen- year-old son, Romel Richard, who will be writing his first subject at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate on July 17 was in the room with her, he told her not move after the house fell and her bed was broken and sunk into the floor. “I feel the breeze blowing and meh deh pon the bed ah pray and then the house fall down, crack! bradam! Then meh son she nah move and he get up and go see everything on the bruk-up”.

The woman, a mother of three who lost to lost her husband 13 years ago and is sickly, said she is very worried since her only source of income if from public assistance. She

noted she has no means of finances to fix her house as such, she is hoping that persons can assist. She noted while all the pillars that held the house up collapsed, most of the damage she suffered was inside of the house. The  walls fell apart and the entire flooring in her room were broken. “Meh son gotta write exam and a whole bruk up, inside damage bad and meh can’t do anything”. She added that this was the first time she experience the “storm”, in her community. Persons willing to offer assistance to the family call
602-4571.

Meanwhile, Teddy Sukhdeo, a volunteer at the Guyana Red Cross Society and of Number 63 Village stated in light of the frequent “freak storms” that are being experienced in the country which leaves in its wake structural damage, the need for a national conversation on disaster preparedness, disaster response, alert level and  building code. “Guyana now needs to take disaster seriously like its Caribbean
neighbours who on an annual season has to deal with hurricane and other natural disaster.”

Heavy winds along Guyana’s coastline ripped off zincs from roofs, uprooted trees, knocked over sign boards and toppled power poles. Throughout the Berbice area, many families were in the process of fixing their damaged roofs and were talking about the experience.