Worse than a nightmare at Chatham, say residents

“A nightmare! This worse than a nightmare,” exclaimed Chatham resident Jagdayah Persad. In general, this is how residents of Chatham village, Point Fortin, described their lives in their words since the emission of strange, sulphur fumes from large fissures on private land owned by the Balkaran family. Despite the hardships, they say moving out of the area is a last resort, since it is where they have built their homes. The residents spoke about the way their lives have been negatively affected since the fumes started about six months ago. With the emissions becoming stronger, the sleepy, quiet village of Chatham has been getting a lot of media attention. Michael Balkaran, who lives on the seven acres of land owned by his family, said this too, is making his family’s uncomfortable. Residents of the village told Sunday Newsday, during a visit to the area, about the hardships they’ve encountered, most of which are discomfort and health hazards.

They spoke about constantly feeling sick, nausea, headaches, dizziness and some showed rashes on their skin. One or two said they’ve been taking a lot of medication for coughing. The most pitiful is a little girl, two-year-old Riana, the daughter of Radha Manohar, whose hair is dropping off from a rash on her head, suspected to have been caused by the sulphur fumes. “I keep carrying her to the doctors, even the private clinic and I have spent hundreds of dollars in medical bills,” said Manohar. Ramdai Dillah also showed her rash-infected skin. Even the food they cook has begun to taste like sulphur. Indeed, it is not hard to believe the residents. As a news reporter, trying to be as neutral as possible, even I was affected by the fumes. By the time I left there, about two hours later, my eyes were watering and burning and I felt nauseous. “You just here one time, you could imagine what it is like for us to experience this everyday?” said one resident.

Persad said she is getting stomach pains and sleeping in the night is most uncomfortable. “Not even the fan is helping to blow away the fumes,” she said. Balkaran said they never imagined in their wildest dreams that this strange occurrence would have happened  on their property. From the top of the hill which beckons the entrance of the Balkarans’s property, one could see the fumes in the distance, looking as if someone is burning a camp fire. The stench hits you even before you reach their home and pervades throughout the community. The walk to reach the source of the fumes is about a quarter mile through the forest behind the Balkaran’s, whose privacy has been invaded since the incident. “Since this thing happening, the amount of people coming here, the Ministry of Health, the EMA, our MP Larry Achong and plenty media,” said Balkaran. He said the children in the village are most affected. “The children feeling sick every day after they come home from school,” he lamented.

Right now, the residents said they are just waiting for a comprehensive report from the Ministry of Health and the Environmental Management Agency to hear how the fumes could affect their health. In a Newsday report last week, EMA communications officer Kirk Jean-Baptiste said seismic tests may also have to be carried out to determine the exact size and location of a mineral known as lignite at the site, which the EMA had identified as the source of the fumes. Lignite, according to the EMA, is a naturally-occurring soft, brown coal that could be defined as an intermediate material between bitominous coal and peat (a brownish, partly-decomposed vegetable matter that can be used as fuel). Lignite, however, contains more moisture than coal and when exposed to air, dries rapidly and becomes highly combustible. Jean-Baptiste said according to the EMA’s reports, the lignite appeared to be smoldering in an underground fissure and moving the material may also prove hazardous.