Family fears monsoon may lead to more trees crashing down

The Star Metro 15th September 2011

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/9/15/central/9490918&sec=central

IN AUGUST, a big tree fell on Umapathy S. Ganapathy’s home and damaged a large portion of the house in Taman Cuepacs, 9th Mile Cheras.

Now, a month later and in anticipation of the monsoon season, Umapathy’s family is having sleepless nights after the ordeal they had gone through.

Damaged home: The kitchen ceiling was damaged by a fallen tree. Fortunately no one was injured.

“The incident happened on Aug 13 at about 6.30pm. My family and I were in the living room when we heard a loud thud like the sound of a thunder. Upon checking, we found a large tree had been uprooted from the steep slope behind our house and had damaged our kitchen,” Umapathy recalled.

According to the 50-year-old retired postman, it was raining heavily at the time of the incident.

“We had a huge branch in the kitchen where it had fallen and damaged the roof and ceiling. Another two areas, one in the bathroom and another in the bedroom, were also damaged badly,” he said.

Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) workers came at 9.30pm the same day to cut the tree, leaving most of the branches behind Umapathy’s house.

Left uncleared: Umapathy showing what remains of the tree that was uprooted from the steep slope behind his home during a heavy storm.

“If any of my family had been in the back portion of the house when it happened, they could have been injured very badly. Now, we are worried that the other trees on the slope will also be uprooted if it rains heavily daily,” he said.

Umapathy is hoping the authorities will build a retaining wall and cut down the trees as a safety measure for those living there.

He also said that it was very hard for him to clear the remaining tree branches behind his house as it was hemmed in on all sides without any backlane.

“Although these houses have been here for more than 20 years, we still do not have certificates of fitness (CF). I believe this is because there is no backlane and this raises safety concerns,” he said.

Umapathy added that fixing the roof of his house had cost him RM9,000 and he could not afford another such incident to happen.

MPKj councillor Eddie Ng, who visited the house on Tuesday, said the problem was a result of bad town planning in the past.

“There is no consideration for safety. The distance between the slope and the house is not more than 20 feet. This is too close for comfort,” he said.

He said the slope was owned by the Pasukan Gerakan Am (PGA) and he would get MPKj to hold a meeting between them and the affected houseowners as well as the residents’ association.

“As a short term measure, we will get PGA to cut down the trees on the slope. We have been sending letters to them for the past two years to do this,” he said.

He added that about three months ago, MPKj had hired a contractor to cut down the big trees along the same slope.

“It was not possible to carry this out on the slope behind the row of houses where Umapathy’s house is because the residents have blocked off the back area to create backyards,” Ng said.