00:00I need the Prime Minister and his team to come on this site. Please, Mr. Rowley, please.
00:08I want you to come and see what's going on here.
00:11Elizabeth Rodriguez made an emotional plea on Monday morning to the authorities to step
00:17in and save her home. It's one of five, she says, at risk of being significantly damaged
00:25or rendered uninhabitable due to a rapidly deteriorating decade-old landslip along the
00:31Fifth Company Branch Road, Indian Walk, Moruga.
00:35Here was a road to carry down my car straight down the hill and the road just disappeared,
00:41right? So we had to stay on top of the hill and park the cars. But the situation down
00:46the hill there, all the road, all the drains and them just closed in and all the water
00:52coming on us, right? All the mud underneath the house, reach up to the gallery.
01:00Road repairs began here one week ago. But for Ms. Rodriguez, it just made the situation
01:07worse for her family.
01:09My grandchildren living downstairs there, my daughter and my son living downstairs there,
01:15right? And all the mud just blocked them up, like if they in a cave. And I can't spend
01:22all that money anymore. I spend too much money for the government. Road, we caused
01:28that.
01:29Her home is about 100 feet downhill. She and her husband struggle daily to get in and out.
01:36Mr. Wickham retired as a truck washer with the San Fernando City Corporation after 40
01:43years service and hoped that as a public servant for most of his life, better treatment would
01:49come in his old age.
01:51There's plenty time I fall down going up the hill up to Saturday and all I fall down.
01:56I steady falling down any time I going up the hill. I worry about my house falling down
02:00because what's at my age and I not well. Every time I fix it, mash up. Every time I move
02:05it come right back the same place and even further and bringing more mud and more mud
02:10and more mud. And no matter how much I tell the people and them to come and see about
02:14it, they not coming at all.
02:16This house was pushed downhill months ago, its occupants long gone. Other homeowners
02:23have similar affairs as their homes show signs of instability and structural damage. The
02:29affected residents include the elderly, children, unemployed people and single parents. Most,
02:37they say, are unable to rebuild or pay a rent if the worst happens.
02:44Please come and help us. We need help. We need help.
02:49When contacted, MP for Moruga Tableland, Michelle Benjamin, said this project falls under the
02:55Princestown Regional Corporation and was contracted out at a cost of about $400,000. She says
03:02while the scope of works centres on the road rehabilitation, requests were made to the
03:08Ministry of Local Government for more resources to widen the project in a way that could
03:14help save the homes as well. But they have so far gotten no feedback. TV6 contacted Minister
03:22of Rural Development and Local Government, Faris Alrawi, who said inquiries would be
03:27made. However, up to news time, we did not receive an update.
03:32Cindy Raghuba Chikkasingh, TV6 News.
03:38For live UN video, visit www.un.org
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