Why shouldn’t Singaporeans be prepared for natural disasters?
Written by ED on August 12, 2008 – 10:28 pm - Posted in Singapore |Some of us probably would have forgotten about the “water spout” that was spinning right at our doorsteps last year, off East Coast Park. Or maybe, we do but we didn’t really think much of it these days. Why not, when it was our own agencies telling us not to worry about it. Thanks to internet these days, there isn’t really anything that you can’t find. Why did I suddenly talk about this incident that happened last year?
Just in case you’re not a fan of AXN like myself, Singapore’s “water spout” in 2007 has been featured in one of AXN’s premier show - World’s Most Amazing Videos (Season 4). The footage was one that Singaporeans have never seen on any of our media coverage. My jaws dropped when I saw the footage that was featured, and question marks came up in my head as to why our Government agencies wasn’t upfront with the severity of the phenomenon.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said intense thunderstorms were the cause of the phenomenon. The waterspout is a narrow column of water that is sucked to the base of a cloud, making it look like a funnel. An average diameter of a waterspout is 50 metres and it has average wind speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
The NEA added that waterspouts will dissipate rapidly near the coast. It also clarified that waterspouts are not rare as there are actually several sightings each year. - CNA/yy
I am skeptical when I have to find out the severity from other sources but not from our homeland agencies. It was after AXN’s footage that I quickly sat down and hunted for the below footage. It was originally uploaded in Youtube here, but I am streaming it from my webhost for faster loading speed.
Btw, the ship you see in the footage is an oil/chemical bunker. Try making a guess what’s the weight of a typical bunker? To give you a guide, some cars we see on our road weigh more than a ton.
If this thing can spin such a heavy bunker around on water, that tells you how powerful this thing is. I do NOT like how it has been downplayed to a mere “water spout” at the risk of sacrificing the safety of Singaporeans. As we know, Singapore buildings are not built to withstand calamities like tornadoes or earthquakes. What good will it do us to trivialize the incident?
Isn’t it about time (with more such incidents and tremors) that Singaporeans should be educated into taking precautionary actions against such weathers? If a mere “water spout” can spin your ship like this, what do you think will happen when it lands on solid soil? I bet, you will probably be wishing you hadn’t been driving past ECP in your car when that day comes.
There’s a big difference between creating unnecessary public panic and preparing/educating Singaporeans with necessary knowledge in such situations. Singaporeans, how safe do you think you really are?
August 12th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Maybe because it is not “powerful” enough to classify as a “tornado”, that’s why… Not too sure of the technicalities, but a tornado I guess is much worse. Was a victim in Oklahoma of hail storm generated by a passing tornado that thankfully changed course. Scary!!!
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I think that’s precisely why in certain aspects of Singapore we are still short on expectations. In general, we don’t do anything until disaster strikes and most of the times when that happens, it’s already too late. Homes are destroyed, lives are lost.
No amount of apologies can bring the dead back.
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August 13th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Gosh, I didn’t realized it can be that serious. :X
Lives can never be brought back when it’s gone. :S
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I find it hard to imagine the terrified sailors onboard. You know I used to be a sailor myself, and I am lucky that I had never experience this before.
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August 13th, 2008 at 12:44 am
I was thinking…. is it the wind turning the ship or the water current (cause by the wind) turning the ship.
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DK, it’s the wind. Basically, the wind will wrap around the superstructure (which is basically the wheelhouse and other exposed parts) and cause a drifting effect.
Current and waves are also a product of wind movement.
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August 13th, 2008 at 1:46 am
I watched it dissipate as it approaches the East Coast last year. And I really don’t think water spouts come on land.
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The water spout itself can’t land, you are right. Similar conditions can form up on land. I think the wikipedia article actually said that under the section of tornadic waterspouts.
Perhaps that’s a good point to tell us how little we know about the phenomenon.
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Hi ED:
Water spouts can be a nautical hazard as can be seen in your video; however, the crux is that waterspouts generally die off upon contact to the shore.
For waterspouts to occur, you generally need two conditions. (i) Warm water that evaporates and makes the air humid (which ECP has in abundance), and (ii) there must be little wind shear present (i.e. not much horizontal turbulence around vertical vortex of humid air from the sea to the cloud base).
The closer a ’spout comes to land, the vortex column flow gets disrupted from turbulence/shear generated from the shore’s buildings/trees, and also from the different thermal properties (i.e. heating rates) of land vs. water that alters evaporation and convection rates. That’s why you almost never see waterspouts come off ECP onto Marine Parade/Bedok.
(As an aside, ever noticed that you never see such phenomena when it rains? When it does rain, the resulting cooler air surrounding the vortex stops the evaporation of humid air, killing the ’spout.)
As for tornadic waterspouts, you need to have a supercell present to drive the vortex, which almost never happens in S’pore. These cells occur from large scale, relatively slow-moving frontal systems over mid-latitudes with significant land mass (e.g. the US Midwest), which allows MASSIVE thunderclouds to develop.
In S’pore, and at ECP in particular, the small land mass compared to the South China Sea precludes that. Furthermore, almost all thundercloud development at this latitude is from daytime convection, which generally terminates after sunset, thus hindering supercell development.
Hope that clarifies things abit, weather-wise. As for public education against natural hazards…what I can suggest is to take geography classes
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Thanks for the extensive explanation. I am plucking some keywords you have used to read up on it.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:12 am
[...] Discourse - Endoh’s Dungeon: Why shouldn’t Singaporeans be prepared for natural disasters? - the boy who knew too much: The true nature of Singapore’s bilingualism - TOC: Seeing stars: [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Frankly, before the Tsunami that happened on the Boxing Day, that take away so many lives, I have no idea at all what is Tsunami.
If I am at the beach at Puhket on that day, I would have also walked out to the sea to pick the sea shells, when the seawater was drawn so far out.
They are talking about the Big O, I only pray that peoples in Singapore and the world should not have the chance to experience it.
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Christopher, hello there! Nice to see you here and thanks for leaving your footsteps behind.
The Tsunami I had in my mind was like the scene we see in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”. A tall wall of water that is… I just felt there’s a lot of education the Government can do for the citizens. These knowledge ca be used overseas, like Paced above.
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August 15th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Gasp!! *panic*
*calls contractor to arrange for digging a tunnel below house tomorrow*
I live 5 minutes from the sea!!
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Actually I thought of that too, how cool it is to be living underground? I no longer have to worry about aircrafts overhead, and the ground surface only shows a single level. With it, a spiral stairs to lead us underground… all the rooms… dining hall… entertainment room… wow. Natural sound-proofing!
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August 16th, 2008 at 11:39 am
[...] disquiet - The boy who knew too much: Singapore Parenting Congress 2008 - Endoh’s Dungeon: Why shouldn’t Singaporeans be prepared for natural disasters? - the boy who knew too much: The true nature of Singapore’s bilingualism - TOC: Seeing stars: [...]
August 18th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
You have highlighted something we don’t think much about because we have rarely been affected by quirks of weather behavior except for water rationing during a few prolonged drop in rainfall decades ago.
I would be more concerned about severe earthquakes, especially one nearer to our shores, in neighboring Indonesia and its possible impact on our high rise residential buildings.
Or another SARS like nightmare.
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Hi Pastor, now you raised another concern which is earthquake. I guess both Msia and SG has experienced the tremors in recent years.
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