When reporting on a natural disaster, it’s easy to focus on the damage, to simply point a camera on death and destruction. What we sometimes fail to do, however, is to follow up on the human side of the tragedy, on what happens to the victims once their immediate story has been told…and often forgotten. […]
An insurance policy is something that you usually don’t think about until you need it. And when you need it, it’s usually too late to go out and buy it. In the wake of Hurricane Keith many people who hadn’t looked at their insurance policies since Greta in 1978, discovered that in the new millennium […]
While Belizean farm production will take a temporary nosedive due to the hurricane, one local food processor has bucked the trend and on Tuesday will begin to export his product. Benque Viejo Snack Company will ship its first container of Luna plantain chips to Jamaica, where it will be marketed by Grace Kennedy. The snack […]
Good evening I’m James Adderly and welcome to this edition of Sports Monday. Our focus remains on track and field since the conclusion of the Sydney Olympics, where two Belizeans participated. With us is Linsford Castillo a former athlete and former General Secretary of the Belize Amateur Athletic Association. We inquired from Mr. Castillo his […]
Police have confirmed that they have impounded a white vehicle with a Texas license plate they believe may have been used in the murder of Therese Blake Ayuso. A total of five people, not necessarily suspects, have so far been questioned in the investigation, including the victim’s estranged husband Libby Ayuso Jr. The daughter of […]
In other crime news this week’s Reporter newspaper has confirmed that two high profile police officers have been discharged from the force. Assistant Inspector Eli Salazar and Cardinal Smith lost their jobs as of September eighteenth, the result of investigations into several instances of brutality and abuse of power.
In news of hurricane relief a number of new donors have come forward to offer emergency aid in the wake of Hurricane Keith. On October tenth, Britain’s Department for International Development announced a donation of one hundred thousand pounds, which is just under three hundred thousand Belize Dollars. The money will be administered by the […]
Preliminary estimates of damage to the sugar industry have been revised upward. The Ministry of Agriculture, following surveys by the Sugar Board, reports that losses are in the vicinity of thirty-three million dollars. Fourteen thousand acres of cane are said to be flooded, ten thousand in Orange Walk and four thousand in the Corozal District. […]
While losses in agriculture continue to mount, the hard hit tourism industry is working feverishly to minimize its losses. Director of Tourism Tracy Taegar tells News Five that while San Pedro and Caye Caulker are not quite ready for guests, the disaster has allowed other destinations to increase their exposure as well as their bottom […]
While life in Belize City is largely back to normal following Hurricane Keith, there are a number of people whose homes were destroyed or damaged to the point that they will need massive repairs. To help stricken residents focus on the cleanup, one city landmark has not only opened its heart, but also its kitchen. […]
On Thursday we told the story of three families in Ladyville who were evicted from their homes in a dispute over land. Today the landowners who successfully had them put out tells us that the residents knew all along the land was not theirs and simply played the fool. Jose Castillo, Landowner “We went to […]
You may have seen the public service announcements extolling the virtues of eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals. But beyond the hype, evidence continues to mount that childhood nutrition is critical to future development. Today the Ministry of Health launched an effort to make sure that Belizeans get what they need from a very […]
It was not your typical Belizean murder. Those usually involve gang bangers whacking each other over drugs or territorial disputes, drunken machete men fighting over women or an occasional Chinese grocer killed in a robbery attempt. Today’s tragic death occurred in broad daylight in a wealthy section of the Newtown Barracks once reserved for the […]
She probably never imagined that her inaugural address to the OAS would concern a natural disaster, but such are the worlds of diplomacy and weather. On Wednesday in Washington D.C. Ambassador Lisa Shoman made her debut at the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States by accepting a forty thousand U.S. dollar cheque for […]
In the wake of our recent natural disaster, it is not unusual to see piles of household goods arranged along the roadsides of affected communities. But while most debris on the curb is wet, broken and awaiting removal, this morning News Five visited a neighbourhood where the stuff on the street was dry, intact and […]
During the recent experience with Keith many Belizeans discovered that a once proud tradition had somehow been neglected. Ann-Marie Williams asks why. Yvonne Vernon, Sales Clerk, William Quan “The sales would increase during the rainy season, the hurricane season, and when school is about to re-open, people would be asking for boots for children.” And […]
From colonial times the relationship between the government of Belize and its Mayan citizens has been an uneasy one. Today the administration of Prime Minister Said Musa took a step, which at least begins to resolve the matter and looks for solutions to the problems of land tenure and economic development of the south. News […]
It’s a part of Belize that seldom makes its way into the headlines, but the people who live along the New River and Rio Hondo in the Orange Walk District are the ones whose hard work is responsible for much of Belize’s growth and progress. Today Prime Minister Said Musa, accompanied by the district’s legislative […]
Prime Minister Said Musa took a firsthand look at the situation along the flooded Hondo and New Rivers this afternoon and what he saw wasn’t pretty. News Five’s Jose Sanchez is just back from the scene and his report will appear later in this newscast. But you don’t have to travel to Orange Walk to […]
Water is not the only thing Hurricane Keith left in its path. The sanitation workers at the Belize City Council have been picking up debris and fallen trees throughout the city. Assistant chief sanitation officer Calvin Neal says the Council is working hard to put the city back together. Calvin Neal, Assistant Chief Sanitation Officer […]
While over the last week we have been reporting on the disastrous rise of floodwaters in the northern third of the nation, there is one small bit of economic news that is not negative. Reports from the Mollejon Hydro Plant in Cayo indicate that the heavy rains flowing into the Macal basin have the facility […]
Another good thing that happened during the past week–On Saturday to be exact–was an event very dear to the heart of Channel Five. Chief cook and bottle washer Stephen Ferguson, who otherwise is well known as our driver and part time cameraman–finally married the woman of his dreams, the former Laverne Andrewin of Belize City. […]
One week after hurricane Keith put a licking on the northern third of Belize there is both good and bad news. The good news is that disaster relief is well underway; the bad news is that economic and human losses continue to mount as inland flooding becomes more widespread. On the positive side a team […]
Meanwhile reports continue to come in, primarily from north and central Belize, of continued hardship caused by flooding. In Orange Walk the southern approach to the Tower Hill Bridge is under at least 2 feet of water, while the eastern approach to the San Estevan Bridge is under 4 feet. The wide waters of the […]
In the wake of hurricane Keith, the Belize Red Cross Society is the leading NGO poised to assist people with rebuilding their lives. Vice-president Delsyia Goff says they have gotten tremendous assistance from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the American Red Cross. A number of local contributions have also […]
