An old condemned house at Hadfield Street collapsed yesterday leaving eleven families including 25 children homeless.
Residents who had been living in the dilapidated house told Stabroek News that around 1.30 yesterday morning some of them were awakened by creaking noises, and realizing what was about to happen they woke the others and rushed out seconds before the old building came crashing to the ground. Miraculously no one was hurt in the incident.
All their belongings are now buried beneath the rubble.
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday morning some of the residents were trying to salvage what they could from the ruins, while others sat around looking on forlornly.
Later in the day Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand and Minister of Public Works Robeson Benn arrived on the scene to speak to residents.
Manickchand said that arrangements would be made to accommodate anyone who wanted at the Ruimveldt homeless shelter. They would be given clothes as well as lunch and dinner yesterday, she said, reiterating that they would have to find somewhere to go, especially the children, and the shelter was available.
Benn said that his ministry would provide trucks to transport the broken-up materials so that the former inhabitants could access their buried possessions. The trucks would also be available to move the belongings of those who had somewhere to go.
Many persons had been occupying the house for a number of years, including Kwame Jawanza and Christine Charles both in their late 70s. Mario Tyson, 35, said that he had been born in the house and had lived there all his life.
He said that the house would have come down a long time ago had they not strapped it with rope and propped up certain parts.
A number of single-parent women also shared the house. One of them, Lynette Daniels, who has four children, the eldest being eleven, said that she had a house lot at Tuschen but could not afford to build her home. “The bus fare to send meh children to school is another problem,” she explained. She said that everything she owned appeared to be broken and she was just waiting for some help because she did not know what else to do.
A mother of two, Simone Pompey, said that she too had acquired a house lot but could not afford to build on it, which was why she had remained in the old house even though she knew the danger it represented.
Some persons gave their names to ministry officials, agreeing to stay at the shelter, but others said that they were not too keen on staying there.
