6 injured after old tree collapsed in East Denpasar
An old tree in East Denpasar fell over and hit five houses early this morning, injuring at least six residents who were sleeping at the time of the incident.
The Denpasar chapter of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) reported that it took 40 people from the agency and about two hours to address the situation, which involved cutting the tree with chainsaws.
The tree was reportedly 1.5 meters in diameter.
BPBD noted that six people were immediately taken to the hospital for injuries after the incident, which took place at around 1:15am today. The tree reportedly destroyed two out of the five houses it fell on.
“I was asleep at the time. Suddenly it fell. I was trapped inside,” Wayan Suartana, one of the affected residents, told Tribun.
Suartana said that his electronic goods and three motorcycles were all damaged, estimating a personal loss of around IDR150 million (US$10,767).
The local village chief, identified as Wayan Sumadi, told Kumparan that the tree was hundreds of years old. He also added that the village residents have been discussing whether or not to cut down the tree as they feared such an incident might take place, especially now being the rainy season.
News of trees falling in different parts of Bali are quite common recently. While some are attributed to the strong wind and rain of this season, some have blamed the incidents on the trees’ old age.
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