On Thursday May 28th at 2:23am, the people of Belize & Honduras were rudely shaken awake by a 7.3 earthquake that was centered near the Bay Islands in Honduras. As the ground settled down many people found themselves standing in their yards in their pajamas, stunned about what they has just experienced.

As dawn broke it became clear that many places had sustained some damage and other places none at all. The Placencia Fishermen’s Cooper ative was hit hard, with huge splits in the floor of this village landmark. The peninsula has had its share of natural disasters in the past - just eight years ago the area was struck by the category 5 Hurricane Iris.

But, in true Placencia fashion, the residents of the peninsula were stirred into action and immediately began to reassemble their business and households, many able to open for business that very day.

The largest problem for the peninsula as a whole was that Placencia’s water system had been damaged. Within just a week and a half water had been restored through the dedication of the Placencia Water Board work crews who were often found still digging pipelines searching for leaks as late as 10 o’clock at night.

Today the peninsula is basically back to business as usual - a little shaken, a little stirred and full of exciting stories that often start with “Man! When the earthquake started I jumped outta bed an…..”