She crawled out of this
By Toh Li Lin
Rescuers' VIEW
Her VIEW
Six-storey building collapses suddenly in 1986
SHE lived in darkness for 2 days.
Every breath drew dust, gas and the smell of broken bodies.
Above her lay tonnes of broken brick, mortar and metal.
No one above knew if she was alive or where she was trapped.
Bank clerk Christina Phua, 21, remembers calling her then-boyfriend on the phone to say she was going home.
Then, without warning, a six-storey building, popularly known as Hotel New World, at Serangoon Road collapsed. She did not get out of the ground-floor bank in time.
An inquiry later found that the main cause of the collapse was poor structural design.
"I saw stones falling and the wall came tumbling down. Next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back," said Ms Phua.
Half a metre away from her face was the collapsed ceiling. Beside her, a table and a pillar. At her feet, was colleague Boh Gee Cheng. She could not turn her body at all.
Ms Phua, now 33, is an officer with the Industrial Commercial Bank, the same bank she worked for when the 15-year-old building collapsed. She prefers not to talk about the disaster with her current friends.
But, she does not mind recalling the fateful day on March 16, 1986, for this story. One condition: No current photos, please.
In the wake of the collapse came cries from people buried alive. She shouted for help, too. She kept banging the floor.
"I was so afraid that if I stopped, the rescuers would not find us".
When she was worn out, she cried.
She heard digging noises but could not tell where it was coming from.
Another colleague, Mr Cheong Cheng Guan, who could crawl around in the level below, would call out to them, checking if they were all right.
Hunger was not a problem. All she wanted was a gulp of water to soothe her throat - hoarse from all the screaming. Their bladders also ached after so many hours.
"I told Boh that I could not control myself anymore. She was lying just at my feet. She would definitely get wet. She told me to go ahead because she had also done the same."
The days passed.
"Still I had a strong feeling that I would make it. I just couldn't wait to get out and see my dad's expression," said Ms Phua.
People cheered when she came out.
And her father's face?
He looked relieved. And quiet, as a prayer.
Prudential Time Line
In 1986, the year of the Hotel New World disaster, Prudential's premium revenue was $45 million.
Last year, Prudential's premium revenue passed the $1 billion mark.
-- The New Paper, Aug 4, 1998
Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.
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