According to SPH’s The Straits Times
The panel’s chair, Professor Chan Eng Soon, said it used a computer program to recreate the storm conditions during the Orchard Road floods but removed the barrage from the picture. It found that the floods would still have occurred even without the barrage.
I got a few valid questions to point towards Professor Chan.
- Why put this “announcement” into the public news? What’s his agenda?
- Who pay him to investigate this useless simulation?
- Why don’t he do up simulation to SOLVE the flooding problem instead?
- How much money was spent on this simulation program & how reliable is it?
- What’s the progress of finding the solution(s)?
Overall, this “simulation” only aim probably to relieve some stress away from certain ministers that are “in charge” of the upgrading of the CBD and handle the environmental impact.
The central business district & the orchard regions are one of the oldest & most concrete build up area in Singapore & almost 80% are concrete pavements that prevents water from seeping through the ground naturally.
The “experts” have to study more the environmental impact of annual flooding that may or may not create serious possibilities of the creation of sinkholes.
One example of urban sinkholes is the one at Guatemala in 2007 & 2010
A burst sanitary or storm sewer may have been slowly saturating the surrounding soil for a long time before tropical storm Agatha added to the inundation for the 2010 Guatemala sinkhole.
However, with annual flooding at Singapore orchard area…what will be the possibilities of formation of such sinkholes? The expert MUST detect & prevent such possibilities before a serious disaster starts forming up right beneath our feet.
A flooding can cause damage in some goods in basement of shopping centers & lose some customers in the process BUT a major sinkhole can possibly bring down the whole shopping complex causing major loss of lives & property damages that can be in the millions.
My suggestions to the people in charge.
- Stop spending time & money pushing away blames
- Accept the reality & problems at hand & move on
- Apologize or not it doesn’t matter just solve the flooding problems
- Form a specialize teams of “experts” to detect & prevent flood & sinkholes
- Plan in advance 10 to 20 years into the future of the CBD area & calculate ALL the possibilities of natural disasters
- Do not waste money on unnecessary projects without consulting the environmental experts
- Calculate the COST of major damage due to environmental disasters to add into the risk
I fear that the problems of the flooding may be more serious then anticipated but I have faith that our government can do something about it even thou they don’t admit the mistakes of the past they can focus their minds on solving the current problems.
I understand there are several problems at hand that the government need to focus on.
- Economy – rich poor divide
- Reducing stressful environment that caused less pregnancy, throwing money at couples for baby does not solve the low fertility problems
- Environmental impact of over building of the CBD area without considering natural weather changes
- Education revolution to reduce elitism slavery build up – changing the way we grade students based on “memorizing answers” instead of understanding & being resourceful
- Reducing the cost of health care in governmental hospitals & clinics which sometimes is way over priced even after cutting CPF medisave account
- Energy problems of Singapore in the next 5, 10, 20 years and not allowing the poor suffer black outs due to high cost of energy
Overall, the government have their hands full of problems to solve & they should come clean on the problems they have in their hands so that the people living in Singapore can work towards the common goal which is to survive.
