‘I need help to get shelter for my family’

WHEN Tuesday’s freak storm swept through Ragoo Village in Debe, the roof of Suresh Seepaul’s home was not the only thing torn apart — his close-knit family was torn apart as well. The 34-year-old storm victim is now appealing to the Government to assist him in finding a new home as soon as possible so his family could be reunited and live under one roof. Sitting in a hammock at his damaged home yesterday, Seepaul told Newsday that his wife, Denise, 32, was forced to seek shelter by relatives in San Fernando, while he and their two daughters, Alicia and Ayanna, both age ten, are staying in a two-room makeshift structure under the badly damaged house. Seepaul said the structure was built last year to accommodate his grandmother, who was unable to climb the steps leading to the main house, but Seepaul is now fearful that another strong wind may cause the unsteady structure to collapse on top of  them. “Imagine the neighbour have a steel roof and the winds on Tuesday was raising it off, so what would happen to this place (makeshift structure)?” he lamented. Ac-cording to Seepaul, a daily-paid labourer at Caroni (1975) Ltd, he has to demolish his home because “everything could fall apart any time.” He added that he was sent home from work three weeks ago and is not financially equipped to rebuild his home. “If I could get an NHA home to shelter me and my family, we could be together. I would be very happy and thankful.Or if the Government could help me rebuild my home, I will also be grateful,” he said. Seepaul added that his children were traumatised by the incident and he was concerned that their school studies could be affected because of the conditions under which they now live. Seepaul said the councillor for the area, Premchan Sookoo, visited him on Tuesday and had promised that the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation would have assisted him, but so far, he has received no word.