NATURAL DISASTER

The residents of Taman Seri Wangsa were fast asleep. Whenthunder rumbled through the quite of the night, a few people turned over in their beds, but went on sleeping. A bolt of lightning lit up the night sky and stuck the roof of uncle Shan’s double story house. A chunk of the roof seemed to explode, and flame rose from the house.  Home tuition tutor Mr.Chong, having finished the evening class at Lee’s house. The tutor who finished the class was just out of the house rushed to his bike, in a hurry to be home and out of the imminent heavy rain. He ducked instinctively as the lightning stuck, and then saw the flames on the roof of one of the houses.

Mr.Chong ran down the street, shouting,and “Fire! Fire! Call the fire Department!” As he ran, fear gripped him. The flames were still low, but their flickering frightened him for there was unusual strong wind blowing that night. The fire was in the middle section of the street where he lived with his wife and children. When he reached the fire, he identified the building as uncle Shan’s house.

No more that two minutes had passed since he had first raised the alarm, but already Taman Seri Wangsa was in flurry of shouting and running people in panic. The occupants of the houses clanged open their grill doors, running here and there, some organising evacuation of their homes, some waiting, uncertain and anxious. The yellowish orange, lit up their faces as they shouted and gesticulated. A pile of belongings started to build up in front of the some houses as people tried to save their possessions, and those who had cars were throwing their belongings inside them.

Uncle Shan and his wife were organising the evacuation of their burning house. The whole residents of the area helped, forming a human chain to carry out whatever the couples decided they had to save. In the panic, all kinds of objects appeared through the door, both the valuable and the useless. Meanwhile, the gusty wind fanned the flames and soon the whole roof was on fire. Suddenly I realised that no one had done a head count of the occupants of the house. I knew the fire department would be there of any moments, but even a moment could prove too long a time to wait to rescue the lives, especially the lives of the five children who lived in the house. I knew them all well. We grow up together as neighbours. 

Flames crackled down as I took count of the children. The four oldest were already on the pavement, looking sleepy and disoriented. They sat huddled together in silence. “Where’s Hema?” I asked urgently. The children stared at me blankly. I ran inside shouting, “There’s a child upstairs! Hema! Hema! ”

I raced upstairs although by that time the top landing was shrouded in dense smoke. I ran into the smoke and searched each room on the upstairs floor. I could barely see around me so, banging into the furniture, I felt my way. Where are you Hema? I thought desperately. The fire was spreading fast, but I continued to work my way from room to room, groping among the furniture. At last I felt the form of small legs. The child was still sleeping! I picked the child up, and hurried to escape the increasing heat of the fire and the choking smoke.

 Outside the room, I saw the flashlights of the fire-fighters who had come up after me. They took the child for me, and quickly led me downstairs and out to safety to her grateful parents and my own worried family were waiting. The kids parents thanked me while crying for saving their kids live. The fire had been extinguished by the fire-fighters after some hours. They only could help to control the fire to not separate to the other houses but they couldn’t save uncle Shan’s house. The fire abolish uncle Shan’s house. The whole family was in sad of losing their house.

The next day our area committee had a meeting to help the victim of the incident. They request for help with one of the NGO in from the nearby area. They had a visit and promised to help the victims as soon as possible. Meanwhile we as neighbours helped them by giving some foods, cloths and also books for the children.