The fire and the neglect.

 Harry Morskate | 11 june 2010
Early April a disaster occurred in our community for the Lloyd family, but it also concerns all the residents.
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Their house, located between our villages of Dio and Valquieres, was burnt down. The fire was probably ignited by burglars after they had taken the generator and anything else that might be of use to them. Unfortunately, the Lloyds were uninsured. This is unwise and, of course, they are responsible for that fact. But, in any case, it is a fact that they have suffered a great personal disaster.

But we can also speak of a disaster for our community when we look at the way our community has acted in this matter, or rather, not acted. Although it was clearly a case of burglary and arson, the police were not warned. That is the least that people can expect in the absence of the owners. The Lloyds were in England at the time. Shouldn't the community make an effort when disaster strikes in the absence of those concerned?

The municipality seems to have taken a long time to contact the Lloyds. Finally it was done but the mayor – in person – failed to contact the police as soon as he heard of the fire. When a few weeks later the Lloyds visited their burnt house, the police accompanied them and started their enquiry. The couple were shocked and so was the investigating police officer.

In fact the duty officer said that "the mayor was very negligent not to have informed the police as soon as he knew of the fire." 		 He said also: "it was the duty of the mayor, and that he was exposing himself to prosecution." He added that it was now far too late for a proper investigation.

According to well informed sources the overall response of the mayor is: “The damage is only some thousands of euros; it's nothing” and “the damage is only a few beams and a few planks.” At the very least this response can only be seen as a lack of empathy and compassion on the part of the mayor

Residents of our community who are familiar with the house told us that the house was well maintained and well sealed. What is certain is that
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the home of the Lloyd family is now indeed a ruin and that the damage is considerably greater than “some thousand euros”.

All in all, we can speak of a disaster: burglary and fire in an uninsured house. But worse is the obvious negligence and lack of empathy and compassion of our mayor.

This region and our village are known as friendly and hospitable. This is definitely confirmed by many present and former residents. Maybe there is something we can do to help and it would be a good idea that we, the people of our community think about a possible appropriate response towards the affected Lloyd family.





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12 june 2010: reaction from the family Lloyd on this article;

"We will be rebuilding as we love the idyllic location of our house in Dio-et-Valquieres and the people we have met have been so welcoming and kind. The considerable work we had done over the last few years and money spent on our house and fully furnishing it must now be put behind us and we will move on to build again and to make it more secure.  We will also be insuring the house and contents when we have a property to insure!  Something we very much regret not doing previously. "
     
La commune de DIO ET VALQUIÈRES, située dans le département de l'HERAULT, au pied des Cévennes, réunie trois hameaux DIO, VALQUIÈRES et VERNAZOUBRES, d'une importance quasi égale, et abrite 139 habitants sur une superficie de 1.877 hectares. La Gazette de Dio et Valquières est une initiative de citoyens concernés qui surveillent de façon critique la politique municipale.
Gazette de Dio et Valquières