Ten-month-old Aliyah Allard cried of hunger yesterday, but there was little her mother Afesha Noel could offer to her and her 11-year-old sister Aliesha Joseph after fire destroyed their home on Saturday night.
Their home was one of four destroyed along the Old Train Line, King’s Wharf, San Fernando which left 12 people with nothing but the clothes they wore.
At about noon yesterday, Noel said in an interview they had not eaten and although the Disaster Management Unit provided food hampers, there was nowhere to cook.
She and her children camped a neighbour’s home last night, but will have to find a new home soon. Aliesha, who is expected to write the Secondary Entrance Assessment next year, lost all her books and uniforms.
The fire was believed to have started at Alexander Gibbs’ home where he stored rice, flour, oil, sugar and toilet paper for Venezuelan fishermen to take back to their country. Gibbs, 49, a watchman, said he left home around 7.30 pm to lime at a nearby bar.
Within nine minutes, a boy alerted him to the fire at his home. Unable to say whether it was deliberately set, he said his house had no electricity and he lit no candles. Jacob Mohammed, Lee Francis and their families also lost their homes.
San Fernando West MP Faris Al-Rawi said constituency representatives have already met with the residents and everything is being done to bring relief.