Well over one million dollars – that’s how much government will have to pay to repair six water systems that were damaged and one that was destroyed by last week’s earthquake. Area Representative and NEMO Minister Melvin Hulse confirms that water systems in Sarawee, Hopkins, Sittee, Seine Byte, Placencia, Mango Creek, Bella Vista and Monkey River all suffered structural damage.
Hulse says in all cases the support columns will have to be rebuilt. He says engineers are looking at it and by Monday they will devise a design that will make them structurally sound and more resilient to future quakes. For the time being, all the water systems are operating at 25% capacity to minimize the load on the damaged columns and all of them have been cordoned off for public safety. Simultaneous repair work on all 7 is expected to begin shortly.
There are also reliable reports which say that the earthquake damaged the barrier reef system in southern Belize. We were unable to get comment from the Fisheries Department but understand that teams are inspecting the reef to gauge the extent of the damages.
