House collapses in Port Loyola

It’s one of those stories we unfortunately have to tell several times a year. Another house in Belize City has collapsed, leaving a family homeless. This time, the victims are from the Port Loyola area and as you will see, they need your help.

Janelle Chanona, Reporting

Two days ago, this house on Unity Street in the Port Loyola area was at least four feet off the ground. But around eleven o’clock Wednesday night, the building came tumbling down.

Beatrice Mariano

“We were?well I was already asleep, my other sisters were preparing for bed and the only thing I could really remember was getting up, I heard my sister scream, they asked, where is the baby I grabbed him and we were outside, half of it was in water, in the swamp.”

In all six people, three adults and three children have called this place home for the past five years. Luckily, no one was injured during the fall but since the accident, they’ve had to beg lodging at a friend’s house.

Beatrice Mariano

“It wasn’t raining, no breeze. It was just something sudden. I keep thinking sometime I’m going to wake up and it never really happened, cause I was asleep anyway.”

Today, Mariano packed up the household items not damaged by water or broken in the trip to the ground. While a sympathetic friend has given them storage space for their things, Mariano and her family have nowhere to go. They are petitioning for assistance from the general public.

Beatrice Mariano

“Homeless. I know how slightly how it feels to be homeless. I won’t wish this on anybody.”

Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.

If you would like to assist the Mariano family in any way, please contact them at their home on Unity Street, just after Fabers Road in the Port Loyola area.