NEMO says 200 homes damaged and $33.8 Million in damages so far

According to NEMO Coordinator, Noreen Fairweather, the preliminary assessment got underway with aerial reconnaissance and terrestrial teams in affected areas. The preliminary figures are at thirty-three point eight million dollars. That figure is on the low side but Fairweather says it does not take into account the tourism industry or the impact due to the loss of electricity. We note that more than two thirds of the damage comes from losses to the citrus industry in the south. Fairweather also presented a breakdown of the two hundred plus homes which were damaged by Richard.

Noreen Fairweather, NEMO Coordinator

“We have in terms of damages to homes, over almost two hundred homes—one hundred and fifty to two hundred homes. We are looking at some preliminary figures around three point six million dollars. Recovery works—speaking specifically the basic clearing of roads and highways, removal of trees and debris and putting things back in order countrywide—not recovery in terms of replacing any structural work that may have been done on road network: bridges, culvert etc. this is just recovery for the removal of the debris and things blocking roads, and our estimate for that is about one million. Throughout the passage of Hurricane Richard, we had about four thousand six hundred plus people in shelter. Unfortunately with some of those houses going down and people losing roof, sidings, there are persons to accommodate and support in shelter with relief supplies—feeding and bedding. And we have an estimate of a hundred thousand dollars that will meet those expenses given a certain time frame; we feel that we can get them back to some resemblance of normalcy.

As the minister mentioned, the citrus industry took a great hit. When we flew over this morning, the DANA team went over and you fly over the orchards, it looks great, as the chopper went down; all the grapefruits and oranges were on the ground. A couple trees went down but all fruits were on the ground. After speaking to the people in the industry their figure they narrowed it down, and at the end of the day their ballpark estimate based on their experience, we came up with twenty-nine point one million dollars lost in citrus industry. I know they have looked at some way to see if they can recover, but at the end of the day, this is what a damage has been done. If they recover great, but the fruits are down every single one. It was mind boggling. Citrus, the breakdown: Orange is about nineteen point five million dollars and grapefruit, nine point six million dollars. Our understand is that the grapefruit crop would have been reaping in November. So it was just a bad time for them. When we looked at the oranges, they’re fairly young fruits. I believe oranges come in earlier in the year, but at first pass, it did look like they were affected, but as the chopper went lower down then we realized that there were other stuff that were green on the ground beside grass; it was all the oranges sitting there. We’re looking at just about thirty-three point eight million dollars in preliminary estimate of the damage of hurricane Richard’s impacts on Belize. I do emphasize its preliminary. A detail assessment will continue and we will have a better hold of the figures as we tighten up our assessment. The teams are out there doing on the ground checks.”

Channel 5

NEMO Minister says it could have been worse

Everyone agrees that Richard was quite a storm. Although the mood at NEMO headquarters was celebratory because it could have been far worst, Minister of NEMO Melvin Hulse was surprisingly quite stern. Hulse spoke of the coordinated effort and the fact that lives could have been lost because many people did not heed the warnings and advisories before the hurricane. Hulse said many of the calls for rescues could have been avoided, particularly at Gales Point.

Melvin Hulse, NEMO Minister

“Our job is to get the word across. I know you expected a lot of technical things because this is a wakeup call. It’s a hundred miles an hour guys, it’s a category one; that dah no big breeze. Trust me in relations to describing hurricanes and understanding the magnitude and the destructiveness of a hurricane, category one is a joke. It is literally a joke, but that joke messed up a citrus industry, affected two hundred homes across the country, put people into shelter, almost had people’s lives been lost. In Belmopan which was complacent over the years, you see what has happened—you can become the eye—and you did become the eye. One of the things that I appreciate happening was that we were passing announcements over the radio: if you do not thing your house could handle fifty miles per hour wind, get out. We can build back, but we cannot replace life. We are telling you to go into shelters that are safer. We know what wind force that shelter can take, we’re not guessing. And you took a hundred miles an hour wind and then call in the idle of a storm (at gust of a hundred and fifteen miles an hour) you’re gonna call in Love FM and say please come rescue me? No man. We can safe this nation. The Prime Minister and government will find a way to build back afterwards. NEMO information is not the creation of me sitting in my office at two o’clock in the morning or Noreen in her office putting the things together or Sheldon; we meet nonstop—that door is never closed. So what information is released is official and factual. Please let us save your life. WE sent vehicles to Gales Point and no. We were getting word, it is moving to Gales Point original it was set to go to Goldson Point and then eventually right over Gales Point. We sent VACA vehicle again with police and B.D.F. and they insisted not to move. You realize that they could have been wiped out. I mean gosh guys. My staff knows what we talking about. I don’t want know other message to come across but the fact is trust us. When time to evacuate you, it will be good. When we tell you yes go to the shelter, go. We’ll have less problem. No wait til go dah pound yard at one o’clock the morning and seh yoh wet. Or somebody call and seh I lef mi ma by wah river that’s flooding. Man that dah yoh ma. Go get ahn early. We give you warning we talk we advice that is our job.”

As we said earlier, the damages have been put at thirty-three million, but that’s preliminary. A more precise figure will be determined in days to come when the full impact of the hurricane will be further assessed.

Channel 5

The calm before the storm, hours before Richard lands on shore

Over the past weekend, the nation held its collective breath in anticipation of Hurricane Richard, the first to hit Belize for this 2010 season. Many residents did not appear overly concerned; perhaps because of two recent threats that did not come to pass. But by Saturday it was abundantly clear that Richard was heading directly for the old capital. The rains begun later that evening and by Sunday afternoon, the winds picked up force and the skies opened for the deluge that accompanied Richard. At ninety miles per hour, the devastation to property was felt sharply in the south side of the City. On the north side the water rose dangerously along Marine Parade; but good fortune was with us and so far there have been no confirmed reports of fatalities. Still yet the human drama begun to unfold since Sunday afternoon as families headed to shelters. We’ll have dramatic coverage of the hurricane including a fly-over of the devastated areas in Richard’s path. We begin with Marion Ali and cameraman Alex Ellis who braved the winds as the hurricane approached the City.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The preparations for Richard started from last Friday after the National Emergency Management Organization met in Belmopan. And while the storm’s projected path had it crossing over Belize early Monday morning, plans for its arrival had to be fast-forwarded. By Sunday morning, Richard became a looming threat and all commercial flights were grounded and a small craft warning was put in effect.

Three hours prior to the impact of the hurricane, the sea state in Belize City, as shown in this video clip was normal, although the clouds were ominous, of what was to come.

This mother and her children decided to make their way to a nearby hurricane shelter before the storm barreled down. By the time they arrived, many more had flocked to the safety of the shelters. And by four o’clock Sunday afternoon, the weather had significantly deteriorated as tree limbs had already begun to sway and snap across the city under the wind-force.

The seawall by the hangar area in the old capital played no role in holding back the swelling Caribbean Sea and it became one with the street as Richard approached.

As the storm pummeled its way through Belize on Sunday night, it continued to tear up everything in its path that it could and caused flooding to a major portion of the city’s low-lying zones, leaving many of the residents with one common question: Is this the worst yet? Marion Ali for News Five.

Red Cross activated to aid with the disaster in Richard’s wake

In times of hurricanes, we have come to rely on the Belize Red Cross. Earlier today we found the organization in full disaster management mode. Over a hundred teams have been deployed to assist families affected by the storm. With membership on the NEMO Executive team, the Red Cross is represented at both national and district level meetings to keep abreast of any developments. Based on initial reports from teams in the field, the most common needs are food and clothing. Head of the Disaster Management Committee, Myrtle Palacio, told News Five they have been on alert since as early as Thursday.

Myrtle Palacio, Disaster Management Committee, Belize Red Cross

“Over a hundred NITs, National Intervention Team, we call them, persons who are trained in disaster management in first aid, in psycho social, in water management; areas of providing relief to people who are in recovery mode in the event of any disaster. So from Thursday we were on alert and then very high alert as we go into Saturday including activating our emergency operating center. Post hurricane Richard, we have people on the ground, we’ve gotten reports from all the districts and the areas we are concentrating on for second assessments are really Belize City and vulnerable areas of Belize City and moving into other—beside the vulnerable areas—other areas because we are finding out that there’s more water damage than we initially thought even in central Belize City because water came up high. In Belmopan, our branch there was working with the Department of Human Development, the shelter and the Ministry responsible for shelters and working with them to provide food to twenty-two persons. So our volunteers and other resource persons did the cooking and the ministry provided the food. So that was immediate, those people needed that today and so we moved into that. So it all depends on what the response is. What we’re getting back right now is that people need food, a few need tarpaulins to put over their roof; but mainly clothing and food for those who lost everything and a few who lost their homes to water or to wind damage.”

According to Palacio, the Belize Red Cross might launch an appeal on Tuesday for additional assistance.

Channel 5

William Neal of Open Your Eyes discusses Hurricane Aftermath

We’re joined on set by William Neal, also my co-host on Open Your Eyes. William did a fly-over earlier today of the affected areas in the central and southern regions of Belize.

William Neal

“You get an idea of the devastation in small shots when you are on the ground. But it gives you a bird’s eye view of what happens countrywide and its very fascinating. We are going to talk through some of the VO and we start off seeing places like old Belize.”

Marleni Cuellar

“Is that the pier that is completely covered?”

William Neal

“It’s completely gone.”

Marleni Cuellar

“Oh it’s gone.”

William Neal

“Yeah and as we made our way along the coast, it’s almost as if someone just took their hand and started playing with trees. There we have a jet ski obviously lost. A lot of the foliage along the coast was just toppled over like someone again playing God so to speak and just took a hand and knocked down tress and said I’m here, I’m here, I’m here; respect me, my name is Richard. Of course it is very difficult to see it from the air because it is so fresh. Now when we got to Gales Point, Manatee.”

Marleni Cuellar

“This is actually one of the areas where the eye passed over—the direct path of the storm itself.”

William Neal

“There was quite a bit of damage there. Of course earlier in the day, we know they had to send in a special bus to take down some of the villagers. And it was indeed a good move. Quite a number of homes in Gales Point had their roofs damaged in some way shape or form and some lost it totally. So I think that’s probably one of the more devastated areas in terms of exactly what happened.”

Marleni Cuellar

“We can see some of the damages to the houses here.”

William Neal

“Today was such a beautiful day in terms of how clear it was. It looks as if though nothing happened and what a difference twenty-four hours really makes. There you have some more of the homes in Gales Point, Manatee. You look there and it’s not necessarily only the poorer houses or the poorer areas where you had devastation. It was really one of those situations where you are looking at it and it’s almost surreal you know because it is as if though someone just peeled back the zinc roof and just had their way with everything. That’s the end with Gales Point, Manatee right there. We had a really good time in terms of view of what was happening on the ground. Of course, being in a chopper as oppose to a plane allowed us to get a closer view to the devastation on the ground. We continued going south. It was like in a strange corridor and fortunately for Belize. We’re now in the Mullins River Area and what was fascinating you had a clearing where there were a couple houses in the Mullins River Area but around that clearing you had huge foliage being destroyed in every area, but yet the houses were spared. In a few days if you were to take the same trip down helicopter, because the trees would start dying you’d see a brown area clearly denoting where the damage had taken place.”

Marleni Cuellar

“And of course, we can see how the river itself is swollen. Our conversation with Mister Tench saying actually the flood waters will have more waters after a couple of days.”

William Neal

“And this is one of the aquaculture farms and obviously they suffered a lot of damage. I think two buildings had significant damage and one obviously was flattened to the ground and you have debris thrown all over the compound. As we made our way more to Dangriga, we came up to the orchards and a cursory (just from the surface) it looks as though nothing happened to them and then the pilot, Gustavo, brought us much closer down and you could see that all the fruit from the trees were completely on the ground—covered with nothing but oranges. I guess the wind shook all the trees and the fruit just fell. I don’t know what will happen now.”

Marleni Cuellar

“We know that will obviously have an impact on the industry itself in terms of when they normally use their produce noh?”

William Neal

“And this is either a banana or plantain area and it was completely gone and of course those trees tend to be very soft—the sap of it—and it was completely wiped out—again right outside of Dangriga. As you are looking at it, it’s unreal because it looks as if though someone just chose particular areas to just flatten.”

Marleni Cuellar

You know what image it reminds me of? You know the twelve o’clock plants that we have in Belize where you touch one part and it just flattens. This is completely and it’s obviously moving in the direction of the wind itself.”

William Neal

“And as we went into Dangriga itself we saw some houses obviously affected. Isani and I were having a conversation earlier and he said quite a number of homes destroyed were those owned by very poor people and they are the ones often displaced in very difficult circumstances. He has some interesting stories as well. That was actually an excavator, a digger. I guess it was doing some work along the banks of the river and it is actually flattened in the water itself.”

Marleni Cuellar

“It’s submerged.”

William Neal

“Totally submerged. And this is our return to Belize City where that is the Princess Hotel and Marina except there is no marina any more. The pier is completely gone. And we started going around Belize City and you didn’t see much in terms of the roof being torn off, but you did see the devastation along the coast itself. As I said that is the Princess Hotel and Marina.”

Marleni Cuellar

“Well if we flash back to some of Marion’s coverage during Hurricane Richard Updates, we saw the extent of the power of the waves and the winds as they were coming in and obviously they wreaked their havoc on the piers that were out there. This is Radisson now?”

William Neal

“If you think Princes was bad, take a look at this. This is what was the Radisson Fort George Pier. Remember the pagoda-like structure that they had there, it’s totally flattened. It’s like somebody decided to take each plank and just go [thud, thud, thud] until they were gone. So the entire pier for Radisson is gone.”

Marleni Cuellar

“This was one of the buzzed about things this morning being able to be a really good measurement of the amount of damage and the amount of power that was there because it was one of the first things that we started hearing. And you couldn’t really imagine it until you are able to see it there.”

William Neal

“And the bird’s eye view of it gives you a good shot of exactly what happened. You can’t even gain access to it anymore. That was one of the shockers being up there. Of course and we made our way around fort point, we also noticed Bellevue, the roof is entirely gone off Bellevue. And not too far down the road from there, of course the bliss centre suffered quite a bit of damage as well.”

Marleni Cuellar

“There was some damage to the wall there as well.”

William Neal

“That gives you a good idea and we went south, but you can also go west to Belmopan and Cayo where you also had significant damage to foliage all the way through the corridor of the path of Hurricane Richard.”

Marleni Cuellar

“I think that what we are seeing is impacts of the wind especially we’re not seeing much inundation that can happen as well compared to other flyovers where you see a lot of water after the floods had taken place. But it definitely shows that the damage is beyond what we have been able to see.”

William Neal

“Being in a helicopter you get a clear idea of how it worked and it was not a straight line, it was like someone with a lawnmower or stuff just cutting in random areas, the foliage as we made our way south. So definitely quite a bit of damage fortunately for us it was uninhabited area in most cases. I think you’d probably have to go on the ground in Belize City. The cluster of the houses didn’t make it as apparent. Probably around the Caesar Ridge Area, Yarborough Area, you’ll see a bit more but on the ground like we saw earlier this morning when we had the opportunity to go around by truck.”

Channel 5

Prime Minister says money will be found to rebuild and fix homes

We have told you about the drama and devastation caused by the category one hurricane. It’s substantive but to get a measure of what really went down, News Five headed to Belmopan for a press conference at the NEMO headquarters. Seated at the head table was the NEMO minister Melvin Hulse, Coordinator Noreen Fairweather, Chief Metrological Officer Dennis Gonguez and several other ministers including Prime Minister Dean Barrow. Barrow opened up the conference with a message to find the millions of dollars that are needed to rehabilitate all the homes that were damaged and to feed and house those who are still in shelters tonight.

Dean Barrow

“The first order of business is the give thanks. I have reconfirmed with the minister and with the NEMO director that there is no death that is directly attributable to Hurricane Richard. So we’ve come through without loss of life. While there has not been any loss of life, the damage is extensive and in a minute the minister and Misses Fairweather will give you the details as to the damage. My job really is to find the money. My job really is to assure all those that have been affected especially in terms of their homes having been destroyed or their roofs having flown off or at least their zincs on the roofs having lifted off. My job is to assure these people that each and every last one of them will have his or her home repaired or rebuilt. Don’t press me too hard on where the money is going to come from, but I make a solemn commitment that in fact from the various sources that we have looked at, we are going to find the money. We of course sympathize greatly with those that have suffered this kind of damage to their homes and their property. I want them to know that in addition to reconstruction or repairing homes for as long as is necessary, NEMO is determined to assist with food packages. The people that were in the shelters in most cases were given a meal. And this kind of outreach, this kind of assistance, this kind of looking after the welfare of our people will continue. There is going to be a need for a little bit of patients as you will hear in a minute, the damage is very substantial and so there are very many homes in very many different areas in the country to be constructed. While NEMO will take on some extra bodies in order to try to get the reconstruction work done as quickly as possible, it’s still going to mean that not everything can be done all at once.”

Channel 5

Belize Rebuilds After Hurricane Richard

HURRICANE DAMAGE ASSESSMENT BEGINS

Officials say the total damage caused by Hurricane Richard exceed 33 point 8 million dollars. According to figures presented by NEMO Coordinator Noreen Fairweather, the preliminary estimates are based on information gathered throughout Sunday night and early Monday.

Noreen Fairweather; National Coordinator, NEMO

“In terms of damages to homes almost two hundred homes were destroyed. We are looking at some preliminary figures around $3.6 million. Recovery works, and when I say recovery works I am about the basic clearing of the roads and highways, the removal of the trees and debris and putting things back in order countrywide. Not recovery in terms of replacing any structural work that may have been done on our road network, bridges, culverts etcetera. This is just recovery for the removal of debris and the other things that are blocking the roads. Our estimate for that is around a million dollars. Throughout the passage or Hurricane Richard we had about four thousand six hundred plus people in shelters. Unfortunately with some of those houses going down and people loosing their roof there are persons that we will have to continue to accommodate and support in shelter with some sort of relief supplies, feeding and bedding. We have an estimate of about $100 thousand that would meet those expenses given a certain timeframe. We feel that we can get them back on some semblance of normalcy. As the minister mentioned the citrus industry really took a great hit. When we flew over this morning and I am sure when the dana team went over and fly over the orchards it looks great. As the chopper went down all the fruits were on the ground. All the grapefruits and all the oranges were on the ground. A couple trees were on the ground but all the fruits were on the ground. We gave an initial estimate and after speaking to the people in the industry they narrowed it down, they were a bit hesitant to come up with the figures for us, but obviously they were doing their assessment. At the end of the day our ball park estimates based on past experience, their estimates based on their experience we came up with $29.1 million loss in the citrus industry.”

Fairweather said the loss caused by the utilities have no dollar figure as yet; neither does the losses in the tourism sector. A detailed assessment of the losses will be released later. Prime Minister Dean Barrow once again committed to assisting every person affected by Hurricane Richard. 

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“While there has not been a loss of life the damage is extensive and in a minute the minister and Mrs. Fairweather will give you the details as to the damage. My job really is to find the money. My job is to really assure all those that have been affected especially in terms of their homes having been destroyed or their roofs having flown off or at least zincs on the roof having lifted off my job is to assure these people that each and every last one of them will have his or her home repaired or rebuilt as the case may be. Don’t press me too hard on where the money is going to come from but I make a solemn commitment that in fact from the various sources that we have already looked at we are going to find the money.”

He urged those who were affected to have a little bit of patience.  In the rebuilding process, the Prime Minister said the work will be divided between NEMO and Ministry of Works. 

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“We expect to divide up the work, in terms of the reconstruction of homes and the repair of homes, between NEMO proper and the ministry of works... In other words in the Belize city area where there is extensive damage in Port Loyal, in Collet, in Balama especially phase four so in the Freetown constituency and I believe to a lesser extent but still substantial in the Lake Independence constituency. The Ministry of works will be in charge of the reconstruction efforts. Again, Ministry of works will take on additional personnel so there will be some jobs to be had. It really is ill wind that blows absolutley no good. We will be able to create some employment in terms of trying to, ensure that we in fact launch and complete the recovery efforts as quickly as possible. In the other areas NEMO will take care of Business.”         

He said this would provide additional employment. Minister of NEMO Melvin Hulse said during the passage of Hurricane Richard over four thousand people were affected. Minister Hulse said it is important for the public to trust NEMO to do its job.

Melvin Hulse; Minister of NEMO

“This is a wakeup call. It’s a hundred miles an hour guys, it’s a category one. That a not no big breeze. You trust me, in relation to describing hurricanes and understanding the magnitude and the destructiveness of a hurricane category one is a joke, it is literally a joke but that joke messed up a citrus industry affected two hundred homes across several districts, put people into shelter, almost have people lives being lost a hundred miles. In Belmopan where everybody was complacent over the years, you see what has happened? You can become the eye and they did become the eye. “   

Those who were affected are asked to get in touch with their local Human Services Department under the leadership of Judith Alpuche.

LOVEFM

From A Distance and Up Close

Last night we had many gripping stories of storm survival from the seafront community in the Yabra area. That coastal area experienced driving winds and a massive storm surge that actually lifted homes and moved them - while also breaking down other homes.

And while we honed in on that community - tonight we have the view from above, and some more shots from the ground that our crew collected yesterday

The inundation is visible from the air. This time gales point was not inundated; in the community which juts out into the lagoon, the main road was still visible and just so for the citrus which looks neat and orderly but is devastated inside the rows. Here in the Stann Creek district you can see where the land is mashed up, like unkempt hair…and just so along the coast in the area where the storm made landfall - the trees are pulled back.

The flooded properties in Port Loyola are visible from the air; even the basketball court looks like a clay tennis court. The most affected homes sit surrounded like islands.

Here you can see that a piece of zinc flew off this house and these homes are swamped. This area looks properly bushwhacked by the storm and even from above, the devastation in the Yabra area is visible where the coastline looks bilgey. This shed near Bird's Isle was flattened the Radisson pier was a scattered mess.

While the fire department had to hose down the municipal airstrip, in the Belama area, some streets were swollen like rivers.

Belmopan looked just fine, but the view from above, though alluring, is misleading. Look at Guanacaste Park at the entrance to Belmopan - mashed up completely - a tangle of trees - and fallen signs.

Just so, the aerial view doesn't pick up scenes like this one from Yabra - where the Caesar Ridge road was a mess with the thick film of muck and garbage that washed in from the storm.

The leaning lamp-posts and the tangled wires, in some cases lamp-posts keeling dangerously close to the street were visible everywhere.

Perhaps the storms transformative power is best viewed in the court of appeals where the courtroom looks like a bar-room after a bad brawl, the judges chairs put to sun-dry, their robes still draped across the backs of some chairs. This seafront building took the worse of it with water almost up to the door knobs.

The devastation was also laid bare on this church and even the crocodiles were coming out on Faber's road where this house was knocked off its moorings and everywhere Zinc was flung about like abandoned kites. At this store on Orange Street its inventory went crashing to the ground in a mess while boats on the along the coast in the Yabra area were thrown about like paperweights. And while all that damage is physical there's no quantifying the wreckage that has been made of people's entire lives - their possessions strewn one way and the other - their entire homes dismantled - and blown about - chaos piled atop squalor creating vast footprint of loss, ruin misfortune, and the will to somehow move forward - even for this man living out of a cart:

David Halls
"The whole house top blow off and the side of the house blew off too."

Jules Vasquez
"Explain to me what is was like when the house start blow apart on you?"

David Halls
"It was something that I would never want to experience again. But it is something to talk about, a serious experience."

Jules Vasquez
"Talk to me about it. Explain to me what went down?"

David Halls
"What gone down first is that the house start to shake little by little then it start to shake faster like a kite, then the zinc start to blow all the place and the walls just start to blow all over the place then the water start to come up to your knees in the house. But for now e don't where the next move is for now."

Jules Vasquez
"I see you have everything pile up in the cart."

David Halls
"Yes, that's what she had took to the shelter, at least that's what we have still."

In Yabra residents putting together to hel a family overcome by garbage:

Ali Thurton
"We live close to the seaside and everything from the back come to the front. All those car that you see there was under water over the length of the car covered with water. Everybody went upstairs but when they call me and told me the state they say that they can't even come out of the house. My chair, TV, refridge, everything got damage. You see in my house, the bed and everything, all my working clothes, I can't even go to work because I don't have any clothes right now so I am just asking you to shoot this quick because we need help. We need water and everything."

Jules Vasquez
"Now explain to me the garbage situation. All the garbage I see about it wasn't here."

Ali Thurton
"The garbage is here because we had a dump site at the back so everything from the back came to the front with the one that comes out from the sea so all of that that you see - the tree that got rip up, that's is real power that did that."

Jules Vasquez
"So how all of this will clean up?"

Ali Thurton
"Well we have already start we are asking the city council to try to help us. They had already came to assess and they say that this is one of the worst yard."

Let us tell you - we've toured Yabra and the competition for the worst yard is a hard one to win - the whole place is a mess - like someone put it in a box and just shook it up.

That's the way this man at the corner of Mex Avenue and West Colet Canal felt during the storm right before his home collapsed….

Huricane Victim
"This is my first hurricane so, when I feel this breeze hit I said let me go from this house."

Monica Bodden
"The house was already shaking?"

Huricane Victim
"Yes the house was already shaking, so I just move before anything happen."

Monica Bodden
"You didn't move out anything?"

Huricane Victim
"No."

Huricane Victim
"He called me and told me what happen, because my house can withstand a category 7, his house can only withstand a category 2 or half. But he is my neighbor and I will support him to the max as I could."

With so many stories like that - and so many that we have yet to cover - the reconstruction effort has to be massive - and a good corporate citizen is leading by example.

The Benny's Group of Companies will be contributing $50,000.00 in building supplies to those residents of the Southside of Belize City hit hardest by Hurricane Richard. The contribution is available immediately and will be distributed via The Government of Belize through the Ministry in charge of Hurricane Recovery and Home Repair.

For those residents - many of whom - slept in the open air last night - and will likely have to do so again tonight - the help cannot come quickly enough - and we surely hope some company or group will try and outmatch Benny's contribution….

Channel 7

No Home On The Bluefield Range

Those three men went under at Bluefield Range a single island 21 miles southeast of Belize that came directly under the storm's eye.

Bluefield Range is little more than 1.5 acres in area, on which a small resort built in 1978 called Rick's Huts was located - that is Up until the passage of Hurricane Richard. Today a very disheartened Ricardo Castillo, owner of Bluefield Range told us that the category one hurricane destroyed everything he owned:

Ricardo Castillo, Owner Bluefield Range
"I can say that Richard totally destroyed Bluefield Range. I left to Bluefield Range yesterday midday, when I arrive there I didn't see nothing standing and the entire mangrove about 1.78 acres of land, everything is down like a bulldozer pass there and just bring down everything. All that I see is that everything is down and I cannot anything up, no building. The only thing I found there is 2 hammer-mall, 1 hammer and 1 saw - that's it nothing else. There was 9 building there and all my buildings was connected with bridges, generator, I am not exaggerating; $275,000.00 - $300,000.00 there in investments that Richard took with him. This is the second hurricane that hit Bluefield Range. I don't remember exactly if it was 1968 or 1978 a hurricane that passes between Dangriga and Bluefield, but it did not destroy Bluefield like this hurricane. This one is terrible and it so happens that my name is Ricardo and Richard the same, so it's hard. From the day Richard passed I would like to tell my friends throughout the world because Bluefield Range is well known throughout the world. Even yachts go there to anchor. I can tell them now that Bluefield does not exist anymore, it's finished, but I don't give up, I will try to see how I can bring back Bluefield with the help of God and the people."

Castillo's fifty four thousand dollars boat was also badly damaged on North Front Street by the hurricane. If anyone would like to assist Castillo you can call 661-1127.

Channel 7