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Tonight, in honor of that first place, we are repeating her story called "Environmental Catastrophe, Social Calamity: Monkey River and the Swallowing Sea":

Claude Morey, Monkey River Resident
"If things get worse that I can't handle or that I can't live then I got to move. That's for sure."

Courtney Weatherburne reporting
That's the last thing Morey wants to do. He has been living in Monkey River for over 10 years. But his home is slowly collapsing as the harsh waves pound against the stilts.

The floor boards are rotting beneath him. Now he is forced to live out of barrels and boxes on one side of his home - hoping that it won't all collapse into the sea.

Courtney Weatherburne
"Over the past 20 years Monkey River residents have been suffering from severe coastline erosion and its only getting worse. If you look behind me to the septic tank there was a property there and the beachfront extended that property. According to the residents they have lost over 500 feet of beach front. Now the residents have received assistance from the government to build these baskets, they act as an artificial barrier in place of the sand bar that should be forming here but none of these short term solutions seem to be working."

Many residents have struggled for years to find a way to cope with the erosion. 66 year old Enelda Garbutt has stacked rocks and sand in her yard to keep the water from flooding her out.

Enelda Garbutt, Monkey River Resident
"Before the rocks were put when I came down one night water was right at my step, my step out there, it ran from there and it went, yeah."

Other residents are despairing and don't have many options.

Kazerine Garbutt, Monkey River Resident
"Well I live on the other street so it's in front of me right now and all I will do is watch it if nothing happens and it just continues to erode, I will just have to watch it and see how much I can take."

And really, there is not much more Monkey River can take. Residents have already lost large chunks of land: homes, a clinic, the Roman Catholic Teachers Quarters and even a football field have all been devoured by the erosion. And it is all caused by a disturbance in the natural process called accretion.

Rudolph Williams, Hydrologist
"The natural process is it rains, the water runs over land, it picks up some of the sediments and transports it to the river, the river transports it to the sea when it gets to the sea there is sedimentation or deposition of the sediments that are transported."

According to Chief Environmental Officer Martin Allegria, the operations at the Banana Farms have altered the flow of water in the Swasey River - disrupting the deposition of sediments along the Monkey River coastline.

Martin Allegria, Chief Environmental Officer, DOE
"In this case we have had a situation which has been exacerbated about 2 decades or so ago when the Banana Industry expanded such that they diverted water from the river to the canal system that fed water to the Banana Farms and hence reducing the energy and material source going downstream into the sea."

But according to the General Manager of the Banana Growers Association Sam Mathias, "The operations at the Banana Farms along the Swasey River has nothing to do with the coastal erosion in Monkey River." Mathias says when they extract water from the river it is only "during the dry season which only lasts 4 to 5 months. "

And while the Banana Growers say it's not them, there are other possible causes.

Mario Muschamp, Resident
"One of the major causes right now is the mining, gravel mining that is taking place right now on the same river, the Swasey branch of the Monkey river that supply the sand that replenish the beach here, we know that we need to build and do certain things but there has to be some sort of regulations in terms of the how mining is done on these water shed and the capacity, how much it can support."

And Inspector of Mines Michelle Alvarez says there are regulations in place. A person must have a permit or a license depending on the volume of material they want to extract. Although Alvarez says there aren't any large operations on the Swasey River, she admits that the extraction practices are not the most environmentally friendly.

Michelle Alvarez, Inspector of Mines, Mining Unit
"I am not going to say that no no no it is not mining's fault, in some instances I would say it is poor extraction practices that could contribute to additional issues."

"I'm not saying that it is contributing to the erosion in Monkey River either because Swasey is so far away and as I said the extent of which extraction is going on it is seasonal."

While no one really wants to take responsibility, something drastic has to be done to save the shoreline, like rebuilding the beach or dredging. But residents believe the government isn't willing to invest in this disappearing village.

Celso Cawich, Conservation Manager, Projects Abroad
"I think Monkey River needs a lot of help and it is sad to see when there is no financial gains to be made the wheels of development turn very slow, I think if there was something to be gained here like financial profits things would move faster."

Recently the villagers have been trying to uplift themselves financially by pushing into the tourism market.

Caroline Oliver - Sales & Marketing Mgr, TIDE Tours
"Up in Monkey River we've help to develop their nature trail, improving the pathway there, building boardwalks and a wharf."

But still, these residents need more assistance from the government. So far there isn't any long term plan for Monkey River. Allegria says to get there, it must be a coordinated effort.

Martin Allegria, Chief Environmental Officer, DOE
"We have even gotten involved in dialogue discussion with policy decisions makers in terms of the long term, the absolute long term solution that is needed again that is a balance you need to strike on the economic development perspective and the social good and economic good of the locals."

While all the stakeholders work on that joint plan, the residents must try to survive, try to preserve what they have left for themselves and for their children.

As Garbutt and her family and friends page through an old album, they reminisce on the life they had before, the joy they once knew on their full sandy beach - but these memories aren't just nostalgia, they're hope for an uncertain future.

We're still waiting to find out when the city council will take the tires it has collected to Monkey River.