If he could, he won't be typing here in the forum.
He would be busy penning policies for the elites
Did authorities do enough during recent flood?
- Thread starter centuryegg
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If he could, he won't be typing here in the forum.
He would be busy penning policies for the elites
I don't think so. The average citizen is incapable of making constructive feedback?
Already Palvin pointed out that if they could have issued warnings 6 mths ago, then they could have issued new warnings closer to the event. Perfectly logical, something which could have slipped the minds of the 'elites'. So whoever issued that warning, which I don't know about, can expect a letter either in their mailbox, or in the forum, pointing that out, then they'll be new SOPs written, for a better future that the 'poor peasants' live in.
And bitching about it without even trying to be constructive is no good at all.
There's always the straits times forum or a letter to the MP/town council. Why must the mindset be for the elite only.
I apologise to everyone for the tone I chose to adopt for my responses. The discussion on its own is a healthy one, I'm glad centuryegg started it. So in case my tone was counter-productive in delivering the message I intended, I apologise, and I hereby attempt to clarify.
Back to the topic. I'm not saying the authorities have done enough. I'm not saying they haven't done enough either.
I'm saying, that how, in future, they could do more. And one way they can do more, is with the help and support of the people. Who can see things they overlooked. Or have solutions they never thought about. Or have critical insight on certain situations that went on, and how to prevent it in future.
The answers don't have to only/always lie with the leaders. It's not us against them. It's just us, if we want to have any real hopes of having the country be a better place to live in.
Back to the topic. I'm not saying the authorities have done enough. I'm not saying they haven't done enough either.
I'm saying, that how, in future, they could do more. And one way they can do more, is with the help and support of the people. Who can see things they overlooked. Or have solutions they never thought about. Or have critical insight on certain situations that went on, and how to prevent it in future.
The answers don't have to only/always lie with the leaders. It's not us against them. It's just us, if we want to have any real hopes of having the country be a better place to live in.
What's wrong with asking if the system could be fine-tuned better? we pay taxes.. don't we.. can't we ask what has been done to improve the drainage year on year? because taxes are also year on year, so improvement should be ingoing.
I wonder about the power outages in some areas, suppose we have expensive marine fishes and nice aquariums and due to power outage the fishes die, can people make insurance claims on these boh? someone asked me about this but I dunno leh... interesting. Saw the paper the power outage was due to gas interruption or something.
../azul123
I wonder about the power outages in some areas, suppose we have expensive marine fishes and nice aquariums and due to power outage the fishes die, can people make insurance claims on these boh? someone asked me about this but I dunno leh... interesting. Saw the paper the power outage was due to gas interruption or something.
../azul123
I don't think you did field fort before right? you know how many sandbangs and how long it'll take? where to get the sand? who to do the temping? after the flood then what next?
ok, warnings were issued 6 months ago but to say that they should have reminded the people closer to the "date" is quite impossible isn't it? :think:
Who could have predicted that there would be non-stop rain on any given day? IMO, that's asking a little too much. I feel that there's no such thing as a perfect response to any given situation.
Compared to our neighbours, I think we are doing quite well.
Who could have predicted that there would be non-stop rain on any given day? IMO, that's asking a little too much. I feel that there's no such thing as a perfect response to any given situation.
Compared to our neighbours, I think we are doing quite well.
Yeah, agreed. Let's all try to keep this civil and not let it degenerate into some infantile flamewar like some other threads here.
My take is we can never really guard against the forces of nature. In Singapore, we are so used to our good living environment that we sometimes cant accept things going wrong. But this is the REAL world we are living in, so we have to accept that things go wrong sometimes.
On hindsight,it always looks as if things can be prevented or mitigated.
On hindsight,it always looks as if things can be prevented or mitigated.
bravo! :thumbsup:
a little common sense goes a long way... if the warnings were given 6mths ago, why, if u were one of those poor florists along thomson road, din you built platforms for your potted plants when the weather is good? (btw, did anyone notice the news featured only 1 particular shop in question? the rest?)
there's also a reason why the floods were called flash floods... sure. the authorities could have given more warnings (tho i doubt it helps...). but, u are asking the authorities to predict when are where the floods are coming (some like to say our govt are 'gods'... but dats besides the point...). and why, for crying out loud, when the drivers see the water ponding on the roads, do they still want to try their luck and drive thru?
also, the news people mentioned dat the storm drains were choked with rubbish... were we (the citizens in general) the cause of other's misfortune by a careless fling of our wrists? think abt it...
Actually, it can... we (well at least the right dept) knows where the low lying areas are, with rainfalls exceeding x number of inches or cm within a specific time and the tide condition, they should know roughly how bad the situation will become and those areas will be affected.
Imagine if your house is affected because not enough was spent on better drainage because newer buildings have been erected recently or some other things, would you still think like that?
It is ok to ask these tough questions...
../azul123
haha most unfortunately I am just a poor peasant, non scholar, not a civil servant and will not be involved in policy making hence I dont have the "power" to activate the govt agencies during the flood not like in the movies, the leading man always seems to be able to rally the police, firefighters to drop everything and listen to his command.
I don't see how a constructive discussion is wrong, or should we keep saying compared to Malaysia, we could have been worse off and get complacent? I believe in the 1980s, massive drainage systems were built around the very areas that are now flooded to prevent a repeat of a major flash flood in 1981 in which as some say the entire Bukit Timah became a swimming lagoon. How come this drainage systems have not worked as they should? I would say we were really lucky no one died in this flash flood, in case some here dont remember, just a few years back, a kid died when he fell into a drain that was covered by flood waters, his mother tried to catch his hand but it was to no avail.
Frankly yes no one is saying that the flood was predictable, it was a flash flood. Sudden and deadly if someone died but we are lucky now only cars died, but what I am asking is if more have been done and implemented and perhaps we can learn from this incident and improve.
And yes I will be writing a letter to the press, let's just cross our fingers it will be published.
Firstly it's not that easy and it is not just governed by a magic formula.
More so, it's also a cost vs benefit issue we are talking about here. Sure, we can put in the best systems for the whole of singapore, but are the benefits worth the kind of money that we have to spend? Dont forget there are numerous things that we need to spend on as far as public infrastructure is concerned.... roads, lighting, water services and the list goes on and on.
More so, it's also a cost vs benefit issue we are talking about here. Sure, we can put in the best systems for the whole of singapore, but are the benefits worth the kind of money that we have to spend? Dont forget there are numerous things that we need to spend on as far as public infrastructure is concerned.... roads, lighting, water services and the list goes on and on.
get centuryegg to offer sandbag wall building services. My section can build a sandbang wall overnight.
centuryegg: Want to engage me and my reservist buddies? If you can tie up with my CO to make this an high-key exercise I don't mind doing it for free even.
p/s: actually this goes to show that not all ghamen bashing threads get good support. You need some common sense as well.
I think you all watch too many of those news clips where the PLA soldiers fill sandbags to make dykes when the big rivers like Yangtze or Yellow River overflow. They got more soldiers than we got citizens :bsmilie:
Sion
Senior Member
How come no one has thought of giving a boat to every household?
The local sampan making industry could do with a boost.
The local sampan making industry could do with a boost.
Haha who said anything about Government bashing.... you wanted suggestions before I can make comments so I give comments even though it is dumb. Reason?? It is to illustrate the point that it is because we dont know what to do that is why we depend on the authorities to do something and when things dont think out well, we are supposed to keep silent?
Of course I know the sandbag thing is dumb but as some here said must give solutions then can make comments mah..... By the way I am a combat engineer.
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