While assistance continued to trickle in, the victims of the Easter Monday fire have set up a makeshift shelter at the front of the burnt out Barrack Street, Kingston building that they once called their home.
The victims erected the temporary shelter, using tarpaulins for the roof, and blocks, crates and cardboards for the floor, to protect them from the sweltering heat during the day.
Meanwhile, Pastor Sewnauth Punalall and his wife MP Latchmin Punalall, of the Alliance for Change, revisited the victims and as promised they provided some assistance. This newspaper was told that PNCR MP Deborah Backer also paid a visit and offered assistance to the fire victims.
The Guyana Relief Council (GRC), which on Monday night assisted in housing 19 persons at its shelter, is still housing victims to date. When the GRC was contacted yesterday and asked how long it planned on housing these persons, the answer was that no decision had been made as yet.
The two-storey building at the south-eastern corner of High and Barrack streets, which was condemned as dangerous by the City Council and the Guyana Fire Service, was on Easter Monday afternoon completely gutted by fire, leaving dozens homeless and destroying all their possessions. Fifty-five persons from thirteen families had once occupied the building.
The fire started sometime after 2 pm and was brought under control by the Guyana Fire Service at about 3:15 pm. Nearby buildings, including the local Inter-American Bank (IDB) office, were also scorched.
Questions have been raised concerning the effectiveness of the Fire Service in dousing the flames, as some residents reported that the first fire truck, although arriving promptly at the scene, had so little water that “in one minute the water done.” This they said forced the fire attendants to seek more water from the Lamaha Street canal at the next corner. When questioned on the issue, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle declined to give a comment.
