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BBC MUNDO RADIO
Canwest News Service Richard Préfontaine and Line Charbonneau and their two daughters lost their lives when a landslide destroyed their home.
Montreal -- When Richard Préfontaine set about building by hand his family home in 1995, he knew the property above a ravine was at slight risk of a landslide. But he could never have imagined that one night 15 years later, as he, his wife, Line Charbonneau, and their two daughters, sat in the basement watching hockey, a massive cascade of clay would destroy the house and his family.
"For sure there is always a risk because they were next to the water, but it was the least risk," Line's mother, Louisette Charbonneau, said on Wednesday from her home in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.
The danger, they were told, increased the closer one moved along the Salvail River toward Saint-Jude, a rural village 75 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
"It happened there. What can you do? It's destiny. We are all born with a destiny, and we cannot avoid it."
The landslide, which struck on Monday evening, shifted the Préfontaines' home and left a crater about 400 metres by 600 metres and 40 metres deep.
Rescue workers recovered the bodies of all four victims on Tuesday night.
Autopsies were being conducted to determine the causes of death, which could include drowning, asphyxia and trauma.
On Wednesday, authorities erected a fence around the crater to discourage disaster tourism.
Workers arriving on the scene at dawn had to chase away dozens of people who had come to gawk at the house at the bottom of the chasm.
Local and provincial authorities began a 48-hour operation to inspect the stability of properties along a six-kilometre stretch of the Salvail River Valley.
Mrs. Charbonneau drew on her religious faith as she tried to cope with the loss that she said has left a void in the family. By her description, her daughter, son-in-law and their daughters, Anaïs, 9, and Amélie, 12, made up a family as Canadian as the syrup they produced themselves from a nearby maple stand.
Mr. Préfontaine, 45, was a jack-of-all trades who sounds like a throwback to earlier times. Though he was employed as an electrician, he was a skilled carpenter who built the house with the help of his and his wife's family. He was at ease digging wells and installing plumbing and recently helped his father, Roger, build a maple sugar shack on his neighbouring property.
"He was the kind of guy who if he worked on something, you could be certain it would come out straight," Mrs. Charbonneau said.
Line, 46, who is survived by a son from a previous marriage, worked in a daycare centre in Saint-Hyacinthe and loved children, her mother said. She also enjoyed the outdoors and getting her hands dirty. She grew flowers and vegetables from seed in a greenhouse next to their home and tended a huge garden, Mrs. Charbonneau said, noting that all of that was destroyed in the landslide.
Summer weekends were often spent at a lakeside trailer, where the family engaged in friendly fishing competitions.
"They bet between themselves on who would catch the biggest fish. Line was lucky. She beat him all the time," Mrs. Charbonneau said. The girls also enjoyed the outdoors.
"They liked playing outside, riding Ski-Doos, cross-country skiing," she said. "They were really people who did not sit around on their behinds."
The couple were active at the Saint-Jude primary school attended by their daughters, L'École aux quatre vents. Mr. Préfontaine sat on the school's parents committee.
"These are people who everybody liked. It's a shock," school principal Chantal Gagnon said. Psychologists were brought in yesterday to help Anaïs's classmates. (Amélie had begun high school this year in Saint-Hyacinthe.)
Christian Vanasse, a Saint-Jude town councillor, said that following the recovery of the four bodies on Tuesday night, official efforts are focused on ensuring there is no further danger.
"Specialists over the next 48 hours are trying to investigate every area, every risk, check every crack, every sign of failure, so if there's any little risk people will be informed and action will take place," Mr. Vanasse said.
Although the Saint-Jude region is prone to periodic landslides - as are other parts of the St. Lawrence Lowlands in southern Quebec - the area around the Préfontaine home was not considered to be especially at risk.
Five homes near the chasm that were evacuated have been deemed safe and the owners have returned.
"When something like this happens so close to your own home, it shakes you up - but I'm not losing sleep over it," said Denise Langelier, who lives with her husband, Gilles, three houses down from where the family was killed.
Saint-Jude, with a population of about 1,200, was preparing to celebrate the 175th anniversary of its incorporation this weekend with a horticultural fair and a festive reunion dinner. In light of the four deaths, people will have a hard time celebrating.
"We are calling it a dinner of solidarity rather than a reunion," Mr. Vanasse said.
