Family Narrowly Escapes Injury After Home Collapses
A family of four, including a physically challenged father, escaped serious injuries this morning when their elevated home on Electric Avenue in Belize City suddenly collapsed. Joany Smith, her two kids and her husband were all fast asleep when sometime before five a.m., the uprights supporting their wooden house gave way. According to Smith, they were awakened by a loud, crashing sound. When they realized what had happened, their home, together with all its contents, was tilted to one side. Nothing could have been saved.
Voice of: Joany Smith, Resident of Electric Avenue
“Before five o’clock we felt a hard bang and when we got up everything was crumbled in the house. Our house fell, it was on the ground. By the grace of God, no one, none of my kids got hurt, nor my husband because he is disabled. He has to use his crutches and thing. We went into the minister’s [office] and we took an estimate a long time ago to get help with the house but we don’t get anything at all and for a period of time the house really needed to be fixed and it just fell now. So we don’t know if we will be getting the assistance from them now or not.”
Isani Cayetano
“Talk to us a bit about the damages and the loss you’ve sustained as a result of this collapse.”
Voice of: Joany Smith
“Well, I lost approximately [everything], all my stuff in the house broke up. Everything broke up. Only my clothes, my kids clothes, my husband’s clothes we had but everything else we lost inside.”
Isani Cayetano
“Now are you making an appeal to the public for any kind of assistance seeing as though you’re either out of a home for the night or you need assistance as quickly as possible to begin rebuilding?”
Voice of: Joany Smith
“Yes, we need assistance to rebuild yes. And I would be glad if anyone tries to reach out to us if they could to assist us in any way so that we could redo our home back because I have two girls at the ages of thirteen and eight years old.”
Isani Cayetano
“Is there a number you may want to share with the public for them to get in touch with you?”
Voice of: Joany Smith
“Yes, the number is 631-6552. The house needed a good fixing about a long time and we tried and tried cause my husband he is disabled, no one employed him because he is disabled and we work together at an ice cream shop that we run and that’s the way we get on our feet to feed our kids and maintain ourselves.”
Again, an appeal is being made to anyone who is interested in assisting the Smith family to get in touch with them at cell phone number 631-6552.
