National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) tents for the fire victims in the Putatan mini hall.
PUTATAN: A Chinese New Year (CNY) plan was shattered after RM2,000 in cash was reduced to ashes when his home was among 55 houses destroyed in the fire here on Friday.
Lee Sie Hin, 58, also known as Boing, said the money was his savings which he had prepared for the upcoming CNY celebration.
Lee and his son in front of their partitioned tent.
The father of five, who is a fisherman, said he was wrong in thinking that his house would be safe due to the wind, but the wind blew the fire towards it.
“We were having our meal in the house when one of my sons told me there was a fire at my neighbour’s house. I told him it was okay and went back inside to watch television until I heard an explosion.
“I automatically took my bag (which contained his wallet) and quickly drove my cars and parked them at the school. I had two cars parked in front of the house.
“I then came back to the house and suddenly thought of our neighbour who is disabled. I was worried but my son told me that he was saved,” he said, adding that he met his six children and wife outside their house and witnessed the fire destroy all the 55 houses, including theirs.
With a teary eye, he hoped the government would give assistance to the fire victims and prayed for his application for a house at a people housing project here to be accepted.
“I have been living here for 45 years and there is no more place to go. I have two more children aged nine and 16, who are in school,” he said when met at his partitioned tent at the Putatan mini hall, yesterday.
Meanwhile, Kampung Pasir Putih village chief Masdur Ali Akhbar, who is also one of the fire victims, hoped the state government would be able to help them rebuild a new home at the same area.
He requested for the affected area to be filled and leveled before dividing them into lots or house sites.
“The buildings should also be distanced and not too near to each other,” he said and added that the fire victims were locals and had been living there for a long time.
Masdur said a house was the most important thing now and wished they could move to a new house by this year.
A total of 315 residents from 74 families were affected by the fire.
Matjani Laiman, 68, also wanted the state government to build new homes on the same site.
Matjani
He told reporters that on the incident day, only his wife and daughter-in-law were in the house making ‘kuih’ for sale.
Meanwhile, a 34-year-old mother of two sons and a daughter hoped to be able to have a house to live in as soon as possible.
On the incident day, she had just come back from the hospital with her three-year-old daughter when she saw her husband taking important documents and a bag of clothes out from their house.
When asked about the assistance they had received so far, she said it was quick.
“Teachers of my children came asking for uniform sizes as well as their shoes and took care of school supplies. For other things, I think it is sufficient for now,” she said adding that she needed milk powder for her daughter.