Tonight there is worry in the deep southern village of Monkey River where massive erosion is threatening homes and has the entire village on alert. 500 feet of land has already been washed away and at least seven homes are now in clear and present danger. Today our team travelled 150 miles to Monkey River to get the inside story on the erosion. That will air tomorrow but today Area Representative Eden Martinez met with agents from the Ministry of Works, Department of Environment and PACT in hopes of arriving at an emergency solution. He told us what is their plan for the short term - but for a context we start with village council member Kazerine Garbutt.
Kazerine Garbutt, Monkey River Village Council Member
“The erosion is affecting our village, it is washing away our homes. It is terrible to see our beautiful beach going and homes crumbling. Some homes along the beach are already gone and maybe people are frightened right now, those that are living close to the beach.”
Hon. Eden Martinez, Area Representative
“Immediately though in terms of short term, the personnel from the Ministry of Works have stated that they wanted to look at a type of palm which they want to bring in and then use tires to develop a barrier about 500 feet into the water and that in itself, the idea is to contain the sand and in fact to build up so we can reclaim the land that has been eroded over a period of time.”
We’ll tell you more about Eden Martinez’s plan to save Monkey River tomorrow night. But more than that - we’ll share with you the raw emotions of villagers who’ve watched their homes and their village being washed away before their eyes. We note that erosion in Monkey River is nothing new – it’s been happening there for at least a decade – but the pace of the erosion has rapidly accelerated. Some suspect that it is as a result of diversion of river water for use on plantations in the area. The theory is that that may have slowed the flow of the river.
