What solutions for families living on the banks of the most dangerous rivers in Papara? Built in the red zone, several dozen makeshift houses line the Papeiti. Two families of thirteen people are regularly evacuated from their homes during bad weather, as was the case on Wednesday. They returned to their home on Friday October 11.
Tini’s five children and their belongings grouped in garbage bags are loaded into the 4*4 from the town of Papara. They are among the families evacuated after the flooding of their neighborhood on Wednesday and were housed for two nights by the municipality, while the rains subsided.
Barely arriving at home, the mother in her thirties rushes towards the river located ten meters from her fare.
The river came closer to the house. Overnight, the river changed. If it rains again we have to move. It’s tiring with my young children. I don’t know why they [la commune] didn’t keep us any longer. I want that to change.
Tini gets lost between red zones, undivided land and building permits… It was the father of her children who chose to live in this valley ten years ago. And when the Papeiti comes out of bed, the only solution is to evacuate the premises, with the help of the municipality.
“Where they are, it’s a red zone. It’s dangerous. These are families from other communes, they wanted to come here to live in Papara, that’s the problem today. We worry about these families… Where should we take them? Everything is paid” asks Sonia Punua, helpless in the face of the vagaries of nature.
Shovels in hand and boots on their feet, Moe and his young sons are still clearing the stones that the water deposited on the banks after the Papeiti overflowed.
Since they ripraped above, the water has started to rise. And now it’s on the road. It’s like that all the time.
The Papeiti river is also known as Mateoro, the murderous one. Last March, a sixty-year-old man was swept away by the waters.
