ABOUT 100 residents, together with farmers and other estate workers of Brasso Seco Trace, off one of the country's most remote and sparsely populated villages, remain practically trapped in the area after last week's latest landslip.

Jovi Chalerie, a resident of Brasso Seco for over 20 years, told Newsday the landslip had covered the very same spot on the already dilapidated road for the fourth time in just the last couple of months.

Users of the road are pleading with the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation, the authority responsible for its maintenance, not just to clear it as quickly as possible but more importantly to expedite long-term solutions, which Chalerie and other residents have offered.

The latest landslip happened during heavy rainfall last Wednesday – two days after a backhoe was brought in to clear the previous one.

Chalerie, who works on an approximately 80-acre estate used for poultry, cocoa, bananas, cassava and many other crops, told Newsday nothing was actually done to prevent a recurrence.

"This last landslip is not high...maybe three to four feet. But it's very slushy," he told Newsday by phone on Monday.

Chalerie provided Newsday with video and images of this landslip and the previous recent ones.

"It's recurring," he said, "because they aren't clearing (the landslip) properly."

Brasso Seco is a relatively short distance away from Lalaja, another remote community, which has always been practically inaccessible to regular vehicles because of the access road's particularly rough terrain, even outside the rainy season.

"Obviously more attention (is needed) than just clearing out the slush, but that's a good place to start," Chalerie said.

"People have produce that they literally cannot (transport) out, because if your vehicle, as in my employers' case (where) there's several Hiluxes (and other) trucks...they are stuck on the wrong side of the landslip. Not even if you have good mud terrain tyres, nothing..."

There is an apiary situated beyond that estate, but even the bee-keeper and estate owner, identified as Mr Maharaj, who drives a Farmall tractor, has been unable to access it.

An emergency, therefore, could lead to a tragic but preventable outcome.

[caption id="attachment_909036" align="alignnone" width="1024"] August 23 image of a landslide on Brasso Seco Trace, reportedly the fourth in the same spot in about two months. Photo courtesy resident.[/caption]

"You'll have to get whoever has a vehicle inside to drop you by the landslip, and either they carry you over the actual landslip or up the hill. We cut a track, (but it) is muddy and slippery up and around the landslip."

The road connects to the Arima-Blanchisseuse Road, which he describes as "inaccessible by all except maybe a trail bike."

It has "dwindled down to like a track bike course," he said, "(because) it's never maintained."

He said two of the three landslips were cleared by the corporation.

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