Helps Pours In For Affected Residents

Source : The Straits Times, Aug 08, 2007

AFTER the trauma of the fire, help has been kicking in for the eight families left overnight without their homes.

Their one-room rental units in Block 105, Jalan Bukit Merah had been badly burnt as a result of last Friday's fire caused by an explosion in a flat.

Mr Chan Fook Seng, 73, in whose unit the explosion occurred, was badly burnt. He died on Saturday.

The Housing Board moved in swiftly to relocate the eight families - two in vacant units in the same block and the others elsewhere.

New homes will need new furniture and even necessities like pots and pans.

And help has indeed been forthcoming - not least from within the community.

Yesterday, the affected families received brand new beds, cupboards and other items, as a result of a donation drive by the Sarah Seniors Activity Centre and the Kim Tian West Residents' Committee.

The centre is located on the ground floor of the block, while the RC office is in the opposite block.

Sarah's programme executive, Mr Edmund Soh, 68, said: 'There have been many calls from people who want to help.'

Meanwhile, Madam Chan Soo Ngan, 79, who suffered severe smoke inhalation injuries and is still in Singapore General Hospital's intensive care unit, has regained consciousness.

Madam Chan, whose unit was opposite Mr Chan's, is in a stable condition.

The affected families have been picking up the pieces.

For Mr Juan Kai Tiong, 45, it took him at least 15 trips before he got most of what he managed to salvage from his gutted flat to his new flat at Bukit Merah View.

Mr Juan, a scrap collector, reckons that it will take him at least four to five more trips, with his trusty trolley, to complete his move.

The HDB has told the affected families they can keep their new flats or move back to their old units once repairs are completed in two to three months' time.

But Mr Juan has already made up his mind. He said in Hokkien: 'I don't want to move back to the old place. An old friend has died, so it is full of sad memories.'

The affected residents have also been given help in the form of $100 FairPrice vouchers and $100 cash from the welfare fund of the area's community development council.

On Monday, Kim Tian West Residents' Committee chairman Ho Hoy Fong, 49, had gone round asking the eight families what they needed.

She said the items requested ranged from clothing like T-shirts, furniture like beds, cupboards and bedsheets, to appliances like rice cookers, radios and washing machines.

Madam Lim Soo Kiow, 58, had moved in barely a year ago into her rental flat, which was directly above the late Mr Chan's unit.

The part-time odd-job worker said in Mandarin: 'Things like my cupboards were brand new and it breaks my heart to see them destroyed.'