Corozal residents feel Dean’s wrath

While Dean may have hastened the demise of the Leslie home in Belize City, the damage suffered by homeowners in Corozal and Orange Walk was far from inevitable. I’ve just returned from a survey of the northern districts and found that while some people are hurting, hope is alive.

Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
This is what the Corozal District looks like the day after Hurricane Dean. Chairperson of the Belize Red Cross Corozal Branch, Gloria Gilharry, offered a preliminary assessment of the damage.

Gloria Gilharry, Chairperson of Bz. Red Cross Cross Clz. Branch
“There is like twelve houses completely damaged, and they went by the Venezuelan site and they found like, at least forty houses completely, the roofs are gone, which is zinc. But those are mostly the damages right. Then the light posts, they claim it’s like maybe, at least a forty percent posts on the ground, a lot of wires—electrical wires—on the ground. And um, well we didn’t find no casualties, no major damages on casualties, and we didn’t find any floods— severe flooding, just water, pools around the place.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“No flooding, not yet?”

Gloria Gilharry
“Not as yet, no.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“Are these families in a position to put their lives back together?”

Gloria Gilharry
“Not really, because those homes are like the, you know, these little thatch house, small houses. As a matter of fact, I just pass by one and I saw the lady sitting down middle of the yard with the baby in her hand and no shelter.”

Alexander Peña and Mariana Lopez along with their five children, one of whom has a heart condition, is one of the twelve families without a shelter. They took the necessary precaution and sought refuge at a neighbor.

Alexander Peña
“I experience it when I peep out the window and I watch everything was going down. I just watch the neighbors, the zinc is coming down. The roof, zinc flying all about, the post lines going down; I just seh well ‘mein, this yah only God could help we and this da it’. My stereo, everything just gone. I don’t worry about the material things right, what I worry about is my family, that they okay then. … I just got a, maybe a half shelter right there where I going to reforce with the board that I removing from this one, to try at least do wah shelter where I cu shelter with my kids, until I could try sih what I could do; because really, I’m not working right now and really, right now it’s very hard for me because I noh have no capital on me.”

And while Peña is not employed at the moment, there’s no shortage of work for him to do.

Alexander Peña
“I got work now to do in my house to try build up at least wah shelter, because I stay without nothing.”

Catalina Cowo and her family of seven are a little better off than Peña in that they saved their belongings but promised she’ll never take the risk and stay at home in a hurricane again.

Catalina Cowo
“Because we didn’t think that it was, I told my husband—I said—‘it won’t be’ because fifty-six years I have and I was four years when Janet hit here and I haven’t seen a hurricane yet. It was very very ugly. Well we just pray to God and that little piece where we were, didn’t blow off. It was all wet and my foot had cramp and my back is hurting me because we were just so under the— and then we put the sofa so, and then we put a mattress incase of something an’ board fall noh, on our heads.”

And for those residents who were lucky enough not to lose their roof, their tale of Hurricane Dean is one of down-power lines, up rooted trees, no water, electricity or telephone.

Ann-Marie Williams
“When will the rebuilding begin? Who will actually help these people to put their lives back together?”

Gloria Gilharry
“Well, that’s a good question. I really cannot say who, you know, who is on the point of doing that. We as the Red Cross, we’ll be doing voluntary work, we will definitely have some supply for some of these people that will be needing like say, blankets, we have kitchen sets, you know. And at the moment I’m expecting to get more. I spoke to the president this morning and they are preparing more supplies to bring to us, but we are more in that field, not in building.”

We found Cruz Lino in Orange Walk, a single mother of seven children, trying desperately to put the pieces back together. Despite little success, she displayed an abundance of hope.

Cruz Lino
“All my things, my dress, my mattress, all my things that I mih have; the stove, wa refridge that I mih have, all the door blow and then bruck down. You noh see it in deh when you gone deh? Aha, all that.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“How does that make you feel, when you come in and look at the damage?”

Cruz Lino
“I mi feel sad because I noh have help from nobody. They blow all the zinc and I noh have nothing. I noh the work that day and I have wah small baby, and I can’t do nothing. The village council from here only help me with five pounds ah flour, two pounds ah beans, only that.”

Ann-Marie Williams
“But you survived so what made you survive up to now?”

Cruz Lino
“Well, I say thanks God that ah lotta people know me. I see wah friend bring me flour, beans and you see, you lucky when you have a good friends, them come and help you. I say thanks, one of these days maybe you will need and I will help you to. Noh true?”

Gilharry says the Red Cross’s role is not to provide building materials but a warm blanket and some personal supplies. Belizeans wishing to assist Cruz Lino of Trial Farm Village in Orange Walk can contact her at telephone number 620-6536.