NEMO is on the ground in Santa Elena delivering relief to the 20 families that were impacted by Tuesday evening's explosion. NEMO says it has delivered Mattresses, stoves, butane tanks and food supplies, among other items to those families.
And while that is helping in the short term, Belize Roadway Construction - which had contracted Tiger Aggregates to do the blast - has been taking repair estimates from all the affected persons and is now preparing to make disbursements. The company will be working through the weekend, and some checks may be issued as soon as tomorrow. We are told two of the affected persons are making claims for new houses since their homes were completely undermined by the pommeling of huge rocks.
So while the post-explosion response is in effect - everyone is still trying to figure out what really went wrong. As we told you last night, the Inspector of Mines from the Mining Unit, Michelle Alvarez says there was no license granted to blast in this area.
Police said that Tiger Aggregates did have what is called a blasters license - which is issued from the Commissioner's office. But did he have one for that specific site in the Santa Cruz area? The police legal advisor, Senior Superintendent Bart Jones says he didn't need one. He told the media today, quote "Licenses are granted to individuals. In terms of site for quarry etcetera, those are outside the preview of the department." Now, those with experience in the field say that's not how it works - and that such a license has very strict formalities which were not observed. Police have not commented further on that rebuttal.
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