Corozal residents taking no chances
If there is one place in Belize that does not need any additional stress it is the Corozal District. And while latest indications are that Hurricane Felix will make it’s presence felt primarily in the south, Corozaleños, as News Five’s Marion Ali discovered, are taking no chances.
Marion Ali
In the Corozal District the experience from Dean has prompted people to take hurricanes seriously. Mayor Hilberto Campos who is also the District’s Deputy Chairman of the National Emergency Management Organization, says people seem to have taken an attitude of once bitten – twice shy.
Hilbert Campos, Mayor, Corozal Town
“I believe they’re very scared. I’ve been speaking to people the whole morning I was at my office and they’re terrified, afraid. A lot of tension is in the air here in Corozal Town, especially like how you said, after a storm like Dean. A lot of people are praying, praying more than anything else and hoping that this storm would either dilute or something or just scare off.”
“I have to say that we learnt a lot from this experience with Dean. It was a very unfortunate event, however like I said, a lot of tension but people are more on the lookout of where the storm is heading. There are serious considerations as to whether it’s going to head in Corozal. I had a meeting at my town hall this morning with the councillors. It was a sub-emergency meeting because we’re working with NEMO and in case of a direct hit or anything as such, we have to have evacuations and people on the lookout for other people.”
Mayor Campos says his Council will be prepared to conduct evacuation in the event Felix changes course and becomes a direct threat to the Corozal District. NEMO’s District Coordinator, Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Ramirez agrees that Dean was a good test run for emergency management officials.
Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Ramirez, NEMO Coordinator, Corozal
“I believe that the members of the respective committees got together for a quick wash-up, looked at their areas for improvement, and we have addressed those and we are looking to better off those areas.”
Marion Ali
“What are those areas?”
Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Ramirez
“Some of them are like, the shelters being properly batted down, because some of them commented that for Dean water was coming in so between today and Tuesday we’re getting it properly, we’re getting it right this time.”
Marion Ali
“Are those shelters ready to withstand a category five?”
Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Ramirez
“The shelters that have been designated are able to withstand a category five.”
Ramirez says NEMO has distributed rations to last for the next two weeks and will continue to work for additional supplies should the need arise. According to Ramirez, about ninety percent of those whose homes suffered damage are on the road to full recovery. This proved to be true for San Antonio Villager, Angelina Gilharry, who along with her family of eighteen lost the entire home and belongings to Dean two weeks ago. For Gilharry, this was the best birthday gift she ever could have received.
Angelina Gilharry, Received New Home
“NEMO they give we fu mek we build wa next house. They give we zinc, they give we the ply wood, and they give we the board to build another house in the yard, so we thank them for it to.”
Marion Ali
“And the rations?”
Angelina Gilharry
“And we get food supplies, we can’t complain. And other people from different districts come and they chip in and bring different thing for us so I glad that at least they help the Gilharry family and some of the people in San Antonio Village.”
We also caught up with Corozal resident Sanjeev Whagmare who was busy securing his home.
Sanjeev Whagmare, Corozal resident
“They have lot of windows in my house, so that’s why we are preparing for the, to get less damage in this house, noh. Well we buy a lot of plywoods, we will put in the windows. And we buy lot of food stuffs so I think like last time what happened, two three days lights gone so we have a generator and everything.”
Closer to home in Orange Walk, construction supplies were not enough to meet the demand.
Orlando Burns, Owner, Landy’s & Sons Hardware
“People are not taking any chances right, they are buying any plywood they could buy. We sold out in Cellotex and all the thin plywood, we sold out, and now we only have the thick plywood and even that we are selling out. So people aren’t taking any chances.”
Marion Ali
“Do you all have the stock the supply Orange Walk, or what’s left of the people who have not come in as yet?”
Orlando Burns
“Well I know I’m gonna run out, but believe me, we supplied a lot. On Dean we had a practical traffic jam here with about a hundred and fifty vehicles out here, and we had a trailer of plywood in here with about two thousand sheets and it went in a matter of five hours.”
Orlando Burns says he is not only complying with NEMO’s price freeze, but has slashed his prices even lower than normal. This compliance makes it easier for Orange Walk NEMO Coordinator, Netty Johnson, to focus on the more important issues, such as shelters.
Netty Johnson, Orange Walk NEMO Coordinator
“The shelters are all functional. Shelters that were leaky or leaking too much, we removed them in the month of May. It’s a long list that we have on the shelters. Yes, the shelters are functional.”
Marion Ali
“But they can withstand a category five storm that’s facing us?”
Netty Johnson
“In Orange Walk yes; in Orange Walk we have very good shelters. This is a shelter, most of our shelters are this category.”
Belize Electricity Ltd. reports that while it has suspended its restoration efforts in the north to allow employees to tend to their families, all main power lines have been restored and less than a hundred of twenty-one thousand customers remain without power.
