Spanish
Santo Domingo. – With voices filled with worry and despair, families from the Sabana Perdida sector of Santo Domingo Norte have been staying in a community center for six days, after losing everything due to the collapse of their homes because of the intense rains last Saturday.
One of those affected, Omar Collado, recounted that his home completely collapsed after the heavy downpours, leaving him on the street with his wife and three children. Since then, they have been sheltered in a neighborhood association, where they were taken by the Civil Defense.
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“We lost everything: bed, clothes, everything. They've only brought us food twice and nobody else has come back,” Collado reported. He stated that he has had to leave his family at the shelter to go out and work as a driver, paying RD$1,300 daily for a rented car with which he seeks to provide for his family.
In a similar situation is Kimberly Green Johnson, a widowed mother with two young girls, whose house also partially collapsed. The adjacent house, where she resides, was declared in "red alert" due to the risk of collapse, but she has not yet received official support to be relocated.
“I am only asking, with respect and urgency, that Mayor Betty Gerónimo listen to us. That she sees our situation. We have no one else,” Kimberly expressed. According to her, only a volunteer from the Red Cross, María Antonia, has been aware of her situation in a humanitarian way.
Both affected parties call on the President of the Republic, the Mayor's Office of Santo Domingo Norte, institutions such as Civil Defense, the Social Plan of the Presidency, and media outlets such as Alofoke Radio Show, to make their situation visible and to receive help to rebuild their lives.
