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Save Our Homes!
By Patience Ejimofor, Daily Nation
Barbados
January 21, 2005
Residents of Chimborazo, St Joseph, are crying out for help to save their homes and environment.
The land is slipping, the trees are moving and portions of the road are caving in.
While these things have been occurring for over a decade, they say, they got worse from late last year due to consistent heavy rainfall.
Three elderly residents, Priscilla Marshall, Weston Carrington and "Baby" Green, told the DAILY NATION yesterday that some residents had been relocated as a result.
They said that the first big landslip occurred 13 years ago and resulted in an accident involving a Transport Board bus. Following that, the Ministry of Public Works carried out some repairs and used gabions to shore up parts of the affected road.
"If they had continued right across, we wouldn't have had this other problem. But they stopped it halfway and the land is moving again. I don't know why Government waits until a situation gets worse before they do something about it," Carrington, 81, said.
"It isn't safe," Marshall added. "Suppose a vehicle come here at night and they don't know the road is like this? We'll have a serious accident. It's all right during the day, but at night?"
The damaged section of the road is about 50 feet long and eight feet wide.
Chimborazo is a popular stop for tourists who want to view some of Barbados' fields and valleys. The rural community overlooks the scenic East Coast as well as Mellow's Hill and Chalky Mount, St Andrew.
"We have a lot of tourists coming here. The view is so good that coaches pull up whenever they come here. So this road is important; it's a tourist attraction," said Henderson Kellman, a jeweller who plies his trade nearby.
The residents are appealing to Government to fix the road before the situation gets worse.
Attempts to contact the Minister of Public Works Gline Clarke were unsuccessful.
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