Violent Storm Leaves Several Homeless in Central Liberia, as Victims Plead for Assistance

By: Matalay Kollie, Bong County correspondent, matalaykollie0@gmail.com

JANNEPLETA, March 12, 2024— As the Rainy Season fast approaches in Liberia, Several Residents of Jannepleta are seeking refuge at the homes of their neighbors as a result of a violent storm disaster in the area recently.

Jannepleta is situated outside Gbarnga, approximately fifteen minutes drive from Gbarnga City. The town is located in Jorquelleh District-3, Bong County, and is represented by Hon. Josiah Marvin Cole at the House of Representatives.

Speaking to Women’s TV-Liberia in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, the storm victims narrated that the incident occurred during the night hours of Sunday, March 10, 2024, when they were asleep.

Our reporter who visited the town observed and reported that five houses got completely unroofed by the heavy storm, thus leaving more than ten family heads and members homeless, thereby seeking refuge at the homes of other community dwellers.

The Jannepleta Storm Disaster’s Victims are therefore calling on local leaders of the county including Bong County District-3 Representative Josiah Marvin Cole and Senators Prince Kermue Moye and Johnny Kpehe Sr. to help restore their loss hopes by providing them the needed construction materials to renovate their damaged homes.

They further launched a passionate appeal to goodwill individuals and philanthropist organizations to quickly come to their aid before the situation lead them to unbearable circumstances.

The Storm Victims named Bundles of Zinc, Cartoons of construction Nail, Clothes for their kids, Mattress and cash for workmanship amongst others as materials and finances needed to renovate their damaged homes and further replace their damaged materials.

Explaining further, Madam Meita Jimmy, a single mother of four living children told our reporter that the situation has caused her and her children hopeless, thus preventing her from doing normal hustle to provide for her family.

She stated that her husband died a few years ago and has been catering to the needs of her kids by burning charcoal and doing daily contracts to sponsor her four kids at a community school in the town.

“l don’t know what to do to get money to fix this house because I have four children with me and their father is no more. No one to helped take care of my children since my husband died. If l don’t burn coal (charcoal) or go work for people for small money, me and my children can’t eat that day so l am calling on Hon. Marvin Cole, Senator Prince Moye, and Senator Johnny Kpehe to please help me with zinc, planks and nail to fix my house”, Madam Meita Jimmy explained.

Also speaking to Women’s TV, Madam Martha Kollie, a mother of three children narrated that the violent Storm completely unroofed her three bedrooms house, thereby displacing her and her kids and further destroying their belongings including a mattress, school uniforms, and books amongst others.

She explained, that she and her poor husband including their children survive as a means of producing charcoal and doing other farming work to get food on their table and to also buy clothes and school materials for the kids.

“Me and my husband and the children can get money from selling coal (charcoal) and making a garden to buy rice and clothes for the children. So l want our big, big people to please come to our call to buy zinc, nails, and planks for us to fix our houses. Since this thing happened to us, we can go on the farm to get food, we only get food from our friends in the community to survive and no sleeping area for me and my children”, Kollie added.

Meanwhile, Madams Evelyn Mulbah and Nancy Suah, both mothers of three children each said the Storm disaster has caused serious problems to their survivability, adding that the situation has made them unable to do normal business to cater to the needs of their families.

The Jannepleta storms victims fear grappling with unwanted illnesses, especially pneumonia, Malaria, and other bacterial infections as a result of sleeping in the open place. They further said that their conditions might worsen in the coming days if nothing is done quickly to renovate their damaged homes.