Af­ter three nights of fear and trau­ma sleep­ing in­side a col­laps­ing ply­wood home, 45-year-old grand­moth­er Ge­nieve Pierre, her eight-year-old daugh­ter, and nine-year-old grand­son have fi­nal­ly been evac­u­at­ed and giv­en shel­ter at the Oropouche Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre.

The de­ci­sion came hours af­ter Guardian Me­dia found Pierre liv­ing in­jured in the ru­ins of her Pal­too Trace, South Oropouche home.

The house, bought with the last of her sav­ings, col­lapsed last Mon­day. Tilt­ed dan­ger­ous­ly, the back walls had caved in, and rot­ted lamp post pil­lars had snapped, threat­en­ing to bring the rest of the struc­ture down at any mo­ment.