Landslip leaves Cedros residents in fear for 2 years

TWO years after a massive landslip in the southern village of Cedros, a community remains divided by a ditch and iron barriers. Residents say they continue to live in constant fear.

In February 2018, several houses and sections of the road collapsed in Bamboo Village, Cedros.

Disaster response officials provided support and assessed the area. And Minister of Rural Development and Local Government Kazim Hosein, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan and the area’s MP Edmund Dillon visited.

The eight affected families have since been relocated to the Lake View Housing Development in Point Fortin.

But some residents who still live in the area said they haven’t seen any of the government ministers since the week after the landslip.

Newsday visited last Thursday to view the area and spoke to residents.

Although she was unaffected, shop owner Vera Barker – known as Aunty Verz – recalled the “terrifying” day of the incident, which happened just two houses away from her.

“I don’t even know how to explain it. That was something else. It was shocking. We were standing there looking at the houses going down – almost in slow motion – and then I saw everything just cave in."

Barker has owned her shop for approximately 36 years and told Newsday she had never seen anything like the landslip before. But she added, “I know some years ago, my father – Papa – before he died, which was years ago, it was almost the same thing.”

She said the community was very close and the residents on her side came together to assist the affected families by helping them move their belongings and providing food

“It hit some people very hard (mentally). It was difficult for them to adjust. One man, for instance, had just retired and took his time and money to build his house. He lived there all his life.”

She said when the ministers and officials visited, residents were given many promises but nothing has been done.

“It was promised they will do something to help the others who live in the area, because if that happens again, it’s the whole village (that will go), inno. They said if the road can’t be fixed, they would set up something like a turning point or a bridge or something.”

She said the most she can do is wait, but added that cracks have begun to appear in the roads again.

“If it keeps cracking and coming up, cracking and coming up, it will get to us eventually.”

Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan had said “nothing could be done” to fix the area.

Last year, there was also a series of landslips in the village of Chatham. Even after it was initially “fixed,” the affected area collapsed again.

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told Newsday many people walk down the ditch from the landslip to get to the beach. She added that some even use it to dump garbage when they don’t wish to walk out to put their bags for collection by sanitation workers.

There’s also a small dirt track that some residents on her side of the community use to get across but she said she would never even try.

“The lady said she wall started cracking, so we said something was wrong. Then while we were helping her move her stuff out (the house), that’s when everything started to happen. Everybody had to run out the house. Then eventually, it kept going down and down.”

She said before the landslip, she could not see the sea from her house, but now she has a “Hyatt view.”

She said officials came to test the soil in early 2019 but did not speak with anyone, and no feedback has been given since then.

"They (ministers) said nobody on this side was safe but we were waiting on further instructions. It’s frightful. They haven’t told us anything about the results of the tests.”

Asked if she is scared, she said, “Yes. Every day. You see where you can pass at the side to go to the shop? I dare not go there. Ask Miss Vera, she can’t tell you the last time she saw me pass on that track.”

She too said she had never experienced anything like that, and the entire community was terrified after the incident.

“Every little sound you hear, you watching to see if something else going on.

“The day after it happened and people were coming to see, the bamboo trees nearby started to make a cracking noise with the wind – so everybody just ran back.”

She said since it’s an election year, they may finally see the ministers and officials again, but is preparing herself for more empty promises.

“They said they were going to do some tests to see if people could still live in the area and we are still waiting on the result.”

Cedros councillor Shankar Teelucksingh said he finds it difficult to understand how Dillon, who is also the Minister of Housing, has not been doing anything to help the affected residents. He said the families who are now temporarily housed in Point Fortin are still in limbo, as they were promised land to build on.

“At one point they (the ministry) wanted to charge them rent, but we stood up for them, so they waived the rent.

“We are still awaiting report of Ministry of Works and Transport Coastal Protection Unit to know if the remaining 13 families are safe or if they are out of harm’s way. We are constantly asking for updates and all we are told is, ‘We are working on it.’ It has been over two years.”

He said residents reach out to him very often but there is no communication from the ministers.

“The last thing we heard is that the minister (Sinanan) has it (the report) on his desk and just has to sign it off.

“The rainy season will come again and we don’t know what will happen. You have an MP who is also the Minister of Housing – all he needs to do is send a note to Cabinet.”

He said the last visit by Dillon he could recall was when he was campaigning for the local government elections in 2019.

“I was down there (in Bamboo Village) just a few days ago and gave out some hampers. They’re unsure if they could just wake up one day and their house disappears right before their eyes. They are living in fear.”

But Dillon denied these claims, saying he was in his Cedros office – a short distance from Bamboo Village – two weeks ago. He said many residents visit the office regularly to chat with him.

On the report, he said, “I can only liaise with the ministry (of works). I know that they have started and that’s straight from Point Fortin to Cedros, so it may take some time. The sea isn’t confined to one area. They’re doing work from Fanny Village all the way to Cedros.”

He said the residents at Lake View are “good and comfortable,” as he regularly communicates with them.

“One or two of them want a piece of land. Yes, they might be comfortable, but at the end of the day, they’re entitled to their own home. We are also trying to get some state land.”

He said the process has been temporarily halted owing to the covid19 pandemic but added that he will continue to communicate with them.

In response to the villagers' complaints, Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan in an interview on Thursday admitted that the Bamboo Village landslip "is a challenging area for us."

He said a ruptured WASA pipeline had washed away the road.

"WASA has to relocate the entire line. We did a temporary work to repair the road. That is a major work that has to be done. We have to do a design and that is why they need soil test and the soil test will tell you the design. In that area there are several landslips and we can't do all the landslips at the same time so it is on our landslip programme.

"What we are doing is ensuring that the road is passable until the major retaining wall is completed. When the soil test is completed that will then go to the design branch and surveys department...We have to prioritise the landslips based on the availability of funding."

Sinanan said there were many more "critical landslips on the programme" which were being addressed.