By Bria King of Searchlight Newspaper (SVG) for Newsday

Though farmers in the red zone of St Vincent are ready to return to their land, the aftermath of La Soufriere’s eruptions still hinders their efforts, months after the disaster.

When Searchlight first met Terry Joseph, Dave Sutton and David Seymour, the three were standing on a bridge in New Chapmans looking up at La Soufriere, which had erupted just two days earlier, on April 9.

While many others in the surrounding communities sought refuge at public and private shelters, these farmers stayed in their homes in the red zone.

They recently shared their experiences since the eruption, which were compounded by the passing of Hurricane Elsa on July 2.

[caption id="attachment_900480" align="alignnone" width="1024"] - BRIA KING (SEARCHLIGHT)[/caption]

Joseph, who lives in New Chapmans said his house was been damaged in December 2013, when heavy rain caused significant flooding in St Vincent and the Grenadines. This damage has seemingly been made worse by the volcanic eruptions.

“A lot of ash was on the roofs, real, real heavy ash. The amount of ash that was up there, the nails them, the nail hole them like they open up more so like there’s a seepage of water coming through. That’s the biggest problem for us now,” Joseph told Searchlight on July 4.

He said during the eruptions, there was ash everywhere inside his home, including the bed. The widened holes in the galvanise sheets on his roof were also entry points for water from the heavy rain that came with the passage of Hurricane Elsa, which also resulted in waterstains on the walls.

But despite these challenges, he refuses to abandon his home and go to a shelter.

“We put buckets; that was our shelter in our house. Buckets to catch the water and big bath and things to catch the water (during the hurricane),” he said, adding that he would never leave his home for any reason. “Even if I see fire coming down the road there, I will never go to a camp. Never, ever. I rather die right here.”

This is not the first time he has experienced a volcanic eruption.

But on this occasion he suffered the greatest loss, as he lost most of his crops, including yams, sweet potatoes and groundnuts.

And while some of his plantain trees survived that disaster, they were all blown down by the heavy winds that accompanied Elsa’s passage over St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

David Seymour, like Joseph, is adamant that he will never resort to a shelter during a disaster.

The 52-year-old also has suffered significant losses as a result of the recent disasters.

And though he is ready to return to the land, he said animals are posing a threat to the farming community.

“It just rough, it get harder. In spite that the government following up a lot with the people and them who never really run from the situation, they still can’t understand the needs, especially of the farmers. What me really ah look at; it’s time enough to start get back to land, but the animal and them are real destruction to man,” he said