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Victims of fallen tree, Yogyakarta residents seek crowdfunding support for treatment
Endi Yogananta and his wife, Israni Silvia, both 26, stopped at a traffic light on Jl. Wates, Gamping, Sleman, on Feb. 5 at around 10:30 p.m., when the tree fell without warning, weather conditions were fine at time. Five other people, including an 8-year-old, who suffered minor injuries, were also injured in the incident.
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The fallen tree hit five cars parked in the parking lot of the Attorney General's Office in South Jakarta. (Kompas/FX Laksana Agung Saputra)
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man from Bantul, Yogyakarta, has started a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the medical expenses of his wife who suffered multiple fractures after a 10-meter-tall tree fell on her while she was eight months pregnant.
Endi Yogananta and his wife, Israni Silvia, both 26, stopped at a traffic light on Jl. Wates, Gamping, Sleman, on Feb. 5 at around 10:30 p.m., when the tree fell without warning, weather conditions were fine at time. Five other people, including an 8-year-old, who suffered minor injuries, were also injured in the incident.
Endi only suffered bruises on his legs, but Israni suffered severe injuries and was rushed to hospital where she was treated for abdominal and pelvic injuries. At the hospital, doctors recommended an immediate caesarean section, but unfortunately, the baby died hours after birth.
“I will fail as a responsible husband if I don’t sell everything I have for the sake of my wife and my late child,” Endi wrote on his Twitter account on Feb. 10. “I don’t demand a lot of things. I just want relevant institutions and agencies not to be negligent.”
As of Monday afternoon, Endi had raised around Rp 109 million (US$7,900) from a total of Rp 130 million needed for Israni’s hospital treatment on crowdfunding platform KitaBisa.
Endi has been trying to seek a response from the local administration. However, up until Monday, he and his wife had not received any compensation from authorities for the incident that, he said, had “ruined his dream of starting a little family”.
“The Sleman Social Agency wanted to provide compensation of a maximum of Rp 20 million for the cost of the ICU, but it later withdrew the offer because my wife and I were identified as Yogyakarta City residents on our IDs. The deputy regent of Sleman did pay us a visit and offered some personal compensation but did not discuss what happened to me and my wife that day any further,” he said.
Endi added that he demanded that relevant agencies pay more attention to the condition of old trees along the roadsides. He hopes there will be no more victims experiencing such tragic incidents.
“Relevant institutions and agencies need to be more sensitive to this matter because there are lots of big, old trees in Yogyakarta. [During the incident the other day], there was no rain, no strong winds, yet the tree suddenly fell,” Endi said. (syk)
