90-year-old durian tree crushes Ubin kampung house

Two bedrooms in the three-bedroom house were wrecked, but the outdoor kitchen and generator were unaffected
Rennie Whang, Syahirah Anwar The New Paper 15 Dec 12;

SINGAPORE - The house was so special that it was featured in the National Parks Board's walking trail guide to the island.

Taxi driver Azman, 47, said he would take tourists inside if its owner was around.

"I'd say, this is what a kampung house is all about," he said.

But two weeks ago, the 40-year-old Pulau Ubin house was almost completely destroyed as a durian tree, estimated to be 90 years old by residents, fell on it.

Two bedrooms in the three-bedroom house were wrecked, but the outdoor kitchen and generator were unaffected.

Nobody was in at the time, as owner Madam Puasa Ahmad, 78, has mostly stayed on the mainland with a son since her husband died four years ago.

More comfortable

The couple have six children in their 40s and 50s. Up till the Nov 30 incident, said Madam Puasa, she has been visiting once a week, usually alone, to clean the house - which was built by her husband.

"Sometimes I think of the place. It's more comfortable living at the village. You don't have to worry about bills," she said.

"It's old, but holds memories."

Madam Puasa was informed of the accident by her brother-in-law, Mr Ahmad Kassim, 78, whose 50-year-old house overlooks hers.

He said he was praying when he heard a crash at around 6pm.

He went outdoors only to see the house in ruins.

"We're all very sad. There's nothing we can do about it," he said, adding the house was not insured.

Mr Ahmad Kassim said it was the third time he has seen a tree damage a house in all his years on the island. His kitchen was destroyed in 1977, when large branches of another durian tree fell.

He was sleeping in his bedroom at the time.

With the help of other people in the kampung, repair works took just three weeks.

"It's not like now, there are not so many people. If the kampung people were still around, we could each take an axe to the tree and it'd be gone," he said.

The house is on state land and the family is waiting for the tree to be removed by the authorities.

A spokesman for the Singapore Land Authority would only say that it is "aware of the fallen tree and will be removing it."

She continued: "We understand that the tree fell after a heavy storm."

An arborist at DP Green, Mr Edwin Lim, 30, said the stability of the tree trunk could also have been weakened by insects, like borers.

"(The possible decay and presence of borers) and the heavy (winds)... resulting from the current monsoon season are likely the causes of (trunk) failure," he said.

Mr Lim added that unless the trunk showed signs of fungal structures or obvious borer holes, it would be difficult to tell when there will be trunk failure.

Mr Tan Kim Teik, 49, a senior engineer at DPC Consulting Engineers, said rebuilding would most likely involve demolishing the existing foundation.

"Old houses usually don't have good foundations and verification needs to be done if this has eroded."

Framed by coconut trees, the house once made for a pretty picture, said Mr Azman.

Now, it just invites questions as people stop by Mr Ahmad Kassim's to ask what happened.

"A lot of people knew this house," said Mr Ahmad Kassim.