IT’S the morning after the explosion that flattened a family’s home.

All their possessions are mostly destroyed - worse still they are homeless.

But today a community is rallying to help them back on their feet so they can start rebuilding their lives.

Residents, community centres and pubs are among those gathering clothing and other vital supplies for to the Sabanal family.

Ministers and pastors at the Churches Together in Shirley and District meeting are also poised to launch a joint operation to help the family and other neighbours affected.

Mum Liberty Sabanal said she thought that her world had “collapsed” as she was told her family had been caught in a blast that had destroyed their home yesterday.

She said it was miracle her husband Jay, 36, and four-year-old Bella were pulled alive from the catastrophic blast which has left them homeless.

Today as experts pick through the wreckage of their destroyed end of terrace home she thanked heroic neighbours who risked their own lives pulling them from the rubble.

Daily Echo:

And she says they are so shocked by the blast they are frightened to return to the home that so nearly claimed their lives.

Liberty, also 36, was working a night shift as a nurse when police broke the news and she rushed to their bedsides in A&E Mrs Sabanal, originially from the Phillipines, who works in neurointensive care at Southampton General Hospital, said: “My world collapsed as well when I found out the house had collapsed around Jay and Bella.

"I couldn't believe what they were telling me.

"It's a miracle they survived at all.”

The pair were sleeping when the blast hit.

Liberty said Jay, a healthcare worker at Southampton General Hospital who she married in 2002, is still deeply traumatised by his ordeal said: “He remembers waking up in bed and feeling something suffocating him.

"There were blocks from the house on top of his arms and legs and he could hear Bella shouting 'Daddy' and 'Help'.

"He told me he tried desperately to get out from under the rubble but it was impossible.

"Luckily Bella was sleeping in our bed last night otherwise it could have been much worse.

"Her room is near the adjoining wall and it would been much harder to get to her.

"I heard a man rescued them and I'm so thankful to him for saving their lives."

Mercifully the pair survived with just cuts and grazes and she thanked hospital staff for their care and those that have started a fund for the family.

They have a mortgage on their £150,000 end of terrace house and do not yet know the cost of the damage.

She added: “We are all still in shock after the explosion and it's going to take a long time to get over what has happened.

"I'm just so thankful that my baby got out alive. That is all that matters at the moment.

"We have lost all our material possessions but at least I still have the ones I love here with me and at least they are not seriously injured.

"I don't want to go back to the house which so nearly killed them.”

Daily Echo:

This morning Liberty and her family are coming to terms with losing everything.

But the community are coming to their aid.

The Salvation Army Southampton Shirley Corps had already started their collection yesterday morning. Coats, scarves, trousers, toys and collections of cash were already flooding in throughout the day from concerned residents.

Major Teresa Harris from the Salvation Army in Victor Street said: "We are doing what we can to help the family and we encourage people to help them.

“We are thinking of the family at this time of with the things that have happened to them.”

Pastor Shaun Sweeney from nearby Shirley Baptist Church said: “We are very concerned for the family and their neighbours. Anything we can do practically we won't hesitate both now and in the longer term.

“It's very distressing its happened and Christmas is a family time.”

Kristina Baldacchino from the King's Arms in Church Street has already donated clothes and is setting up a collection behind the bar.

She said: “Thank God they are alive but they have nothing.

“As a community people should help the family out there.

“Every little helps and there are people who have got young children who may have clothes they have grown out of.”

Mum Sasha Hunt, 22, from Shirley Towers was dropping off newly bought clothes at the Salvation Army with her daughter Gracie-Mae, three. She said: “It's really sad and with Christmas coming they need something.

“It's things like this that make you realise you have to work together.”

Contact the Salvation Army on 023 8077 1655 to help.

The city's Fillipino community have also started a collection for them appealing for clothes and money.

Family friend Marivic Palinawam said: "It's a really shocking situation and it has affected their lives so badly.

"You can't imagine what it's like. Christmas is coming and their house is gone.

"We are trying to reach out to the community and do all we can to help.

"A good friend is putting them up but the most important thing is trying to help them as they've got nothing."

Alvin Agbay, president of the Filipino Community Hampshire said: “The good thing is that they are alive.

"But they don't have clothes or shoes and their bank cards were in there so they have no means of drawing out money.

"Our community is organising donations and a monetary fund to give them emergency needs ."

To donate contact the Filipino Community Hampshire contact 07557 100 750 or email alvin1126@yahoo.com