we have become the laughing stock of asia!
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KNN.... i think a summary execution is in order for whichever idiot who started us on this gas power thingy.....
Blackout hits many areas after gas supply failure
By Woon Wui Tek
FROM about 10pm last night, a quickly spreading blackout plunged many parts of Singapore into darkness.
Darkness falls over Jurong East and even traffic slowed down, as street lamps and traffic lights also went out. -- WONG KWAI CHOW
Not just home lights, but street lamps and traffic signals winked out, causing traffic in Hougang and Sengkang to slow to a crawl as half-blinded motorists switched on their high beams.
Other anxious Singaporeans, thumbing their mobile phones as they wondered if there had been a terrorist-related disruption, only jammed the networks.
As it turned out, the blackout, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said, was caused by a disruption of the supply of natural gas from neighbouring Indonesia.
It did not elaborate.
Restoration of power got under way almost at once, with generators switching to diesel: By 10.30pm, the darkness was beginning to be pushed back in places like Bishan.
Clementi and Sengkang went bright again at about 10.45pm and Eunos at around 11pm. By 12.15am, according to Singapore Power, power had been restored in all areas.
Though one taxi crashed in Queensway, police officers took to the streets to regulate traffic, while land lines in homes and train services were never affected.
Recalled Singapore MRT spokesman Chin Yen Yen: 'The first thing I did when my house in Bukit Batok had a blackout was look out to see if our trains were still running, and they were! We have back-up power for our trains.'
However, the Singapore Civil Defence Force responded to 20 calls of people trapped in lifts.
Some of those marooned in darkness at home, like Singapore Netball Association president Ivy Singh-Lim, 55, feared the worst.
She told The Straits Times from her Neo Tiew Road home: 'I tried calling the Neighbourhood Police Post on a 1800 number as well as 999, but all the lines were engaged.
'Actually, the police should have some kind of a backup to handle such emergencies.
'I can't believe this!'
So widespread was the blackout - it also hit Ang Mo Kio, Clementi, Woodlands, Toa Payoh, Serangoon and Ghim Moh, as well as the Holland Village and Mohamed Sultan Road leisure spots - that only a few areas, including Yishun and parts of the south, escaped.
Last night's was the third such significant incident this year, with the most recent one, lasting about 20 minutes, having been triggered on April 20, after the Nicoll Highway collapse. A week earlier, 80,000 households had to go without power for an hour.
In August 2002, a gas-supply disruption from Indonesia was also blamed for a 90-minute blackout after seven of Singapore's nine gas-fired generating plants shut down.
The Energy Market Authority may fine a company up to $1 million, or 10 per cent of its revenue, for negligence.
Its licence can even be revoked.
A cracking of the whip would suit the likes of an irate Madam Daisy Sum, who had to take a cold shower in candlelight in her Siglap home.
She said: 'Singapore is not a Third World country. We have every right to expect better.'
But others made the best of the blackout: Student Annabelle Danker, 22, and her friends at Holland Village lit up the night with sparklers and glow sticks.
'We can't go home anyway, so we might as well have some fun,' she said. -
our govt should really step up its LNG terminal thingy... this is a big no no for national security...
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/singapor.html -
I tot it's already up and running!
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i have a bone to pick with this part:
Some of those marooned in darkness at home, like Singapore Netball Association president Ivy Singh-Lim, 55, feared the worst.
having backup for such things that may happen like once in never require manpower, resources... and i'm betting this deranged woman will be the first up in arms complaining about "wasted resources" if the cops or authorities actually did this..
She told The Straits Times from her Neo Tiew Road home: 'I tried calling the Neighbourhood Police Post on a 1800 number as well as 999, but all the lines were engaged.
'Actually, the police should have some kind of a backup to handle such emergencies.
'I can't believe this!' -
x2...Originally posted by the Bear:i have a bone to pick with this part:
having backup for such things that may happen like once in never require manpower, resources... and i'm betting this deranged woman will be the first up in arms complaining about "wasted resources" if the cops or authorities actually did this..
y the lines were engaged... is due to ppl like her... all dialing 1800 or 999 juz cos of a blackout... -
just as we thought that we have finally removed one sword of damocles over our head, another one has replaced it........
i don't know about you...but this is the second massive blackout to have hit my block and area for the past 2 months..... it seems that the frequency of this event happening has increased 1 too many times. -
the defence of our nation is based on the
concept of Total Defence. namely Military Defence, Civil Defence, Economic Defence, Social Defence and Psychological Defence.
more on Civil Defence
http://www.totaldefence.org.sg/totaldefence/civil.html
it's been a long long while since we, or at least i, had any water rationing exercise, food rationing exercise, ...we singaporeans are not prepared for such a situation like a major blackout to happen.
whenthe blackout happened in many parts of Sinagpore, traffic became a bit chaotic. the street lamps were off, traffic lights were off... so some extend we have some of us living in JE complaining that the HP reception was down too...
this is a civil emergency for singapore and i tproved one thing. while the SCDF was swift to respond to emergencies during this period, we have also discovered our police force's loophole in handling such a situation. Police and the SCDF are the main pillars of the Civil Defence.
and that lady tat called so many times to the station apparently showed tat at least for her, if not for most of those uncles and aunties living alone and those who called for help, was impacted in one way or another, psychologically.
if blackouts were deemed to happen ' like once in never' , i dun know ur take on a war ever happening here.Originally posted by the Bear:i have a bone to pick with this part:
having backup for such things that may happen like once in never require manpower, resources... and i'm betting this deranged woman will be the first up in arms complaining about "wasted resources" if the cops or authorities actually did this.. -
mi wanna claim damage to my TV
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wars have a devastating and LASTING effect.. and may cause the end of the nation....
a 45-minute blackout will not..
that is the difference..
do you go pro-active and build another power generator costing a couple of billion and total redundancy in case of blackout? or do you react to it?
which is cheaper and more effective?
do NOT confuse the issues...Originally posted by foga:if blackouts were deemed to happen ' like once in never' , i dun know ur take on a war ever happening here. -
Government never pay bill issit?
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maybe..Originally posted by Ayukat:Government never pay bill issit? -
i was a 45 min blackout like u said, but wat if it's not wat u deemed it is? some people do believe singapore going into a war and having another major blackout as far fetching than anything.
our perception of war is macam like 'we will know in advance, we will take necessary precautions in advance" but war dun always happen that way.
i jus wanna bring out the point tat old people do live alone in singapore and thou to us, it is jus a blackout, but to them the psychological impact is greater.
we have lived on this island peacefully for many years. so to some extend we take security of our nation for granted. and not onli the impact on of defence, wat abt the impact on our investors and potential investors have in us? Singapore being a tech fast paced high ended , having many multi-national R&D and 24-hr manufacturing coys , can ill afford such a situation to happen.
i'm not confused. such a blackout would have dented our faith in our civil defence machineries, namely the police. and i'm sure it did exploited the loophole in our national security.
with regards to national security, u believe tat we should play things easy, opt for 'cheaper and more effective' options?
cheap stuffs are more than often, less effective. they're jus cost-effective.
'effective stuffs' dun come cheap.
an example: getting a car for ur family.
car A -> cheap, sits four comfortably. bad safety reviews.
car B -> more expensive, same technical specs as above, better safety record.
which would you choose? same goes for national security. u wanna play it on ur hand, not getting urself prepared for emergencies like this, and risk the lives of others should a security situation arises?Originally posted by the Bear:wars have a devastating and LASTING effect.. and may cause the end of the nation....
a 45-minute blackout will not..
that is the difference..
do you go pro-active and build another power generator costing a couple of billion and total redundancy in case of blackout? or do you react to it?
which is cheaper and more effective?
do NOT confuse the issues... -
effective do not come cheap..
but a BMW750i will still break down... as will a Merc (and a lot of them break down at my work place)
will you tow another BMW750i behind your BMW750i so that you can jump in when the one you have breaks down?
or will you wait for the towtruck and mechanics to fix it?
the BMW here represents the power supply... it works.. but with hiccups sometimes.. do you pay prohibitive amounts to ensure you are able to jump into another car at any time?
as for national DEFENSE in times of WAR, there is no 2nd chance, there is no other car, there is no tow truck, there is no mechanic.. so we pay almost prohibitive amounts to ensure we keep going...
btw, i have not checked today's stockmarket.. how is it going?
also, we will survive a blackout.. we may be wounded somewhat by it but we WILL survive it...
a war is a different thing...
again, do not confuse the issues...
total defense is not military defense...
just like Bush's foray into Iraq has got nothing to do with actual fighting of terrorism... -
Our power is considered to be quite reliable as we have many backup lines etc.
This power disruption was due to natural gas disruption from Indon which was known to be very unreliable, dun know wat the heck they are doing over there.
I believe we still have many other fossil fuel backup for such disruption, for example MRT have their own backup power supply, therefore I am sure all the strategic impt installations already have them as well.Some of those marooned in darkness at home, like Singapore Netball Association president Ivy Singh-Lim, 55, feared the worst.
I can't believe her, she expect the police to come to her house and turn her light for her or wat!!!!!!
She told The Straits Times from her Neo Tiew Road home: 'I tried calling the Neighbourhood Police Post on a 1800 number as well as 999, but all the lines were engaged.
'Actually, the police should have some kind of a backup to handle such emergencies.
'I can't believe this!'
The woman just turn panicky , and started turning to someone for comfort, in reality that is nothing to be afraid of & just remain calm, hogging the police line will just turn away real emergency.
In the 70s and before, there were frequent blackouts in SG, I am sure she have gone thru number of them during her lifetime , so why panic!!!! -
hey, she got a point, u only need to program the messages and all can receive the message when they dial this no. la. think. she knows what she talking.Originally posted by the Bear:i have a bone to pick with this part:
having backup for such things that may happen like once in never require manpower, resources... and i'm betting this deranged woman will be the first up in arms complaining about "wasted resources" if the cops or authorities actually did this.. -
Even with msg , when thousands of ppl calling in, you could not even get thru, which mean real emergency will not get thru too!!!!Originally posted by jaimeyeo:hey, she got a point, u only need to program the messages and all can receive the message when they dial this no. la. think. she knows what she talking.
Even she got thru, what do you expect the answer from the police would be?
The police would tell her to stay calm and they are getting the power restore asap.( standard answer , what do you expect?)
During a power disruption, look for torchlight or candle, then switch off all electrical appliances, then look for a battery power radio and listen to the news and announcement, that is one should do, not hogging the emergency lines!!!!!! -
Maybe time for Spore power to goes nuclear!!! Nuclear power will not be like gas,just off means off! It takes some time for the plutonium to use up and during the time u can go and get some supply! I know small countries like Taiwan and Israel got a number of nuclear power plant.I know people will ask for accident issues but taiwan and israel have been using nuclear for many yrs and nothing happen,u just need to take care with this things!
By the way,what if spore and indonesia has some argruement and indonesia cut off the supply? -
like what happended last night? just switch to diesel lor... but it seems that somehow.. the power still failed for a period of time... maybe there is some technical reason or was it human failure to forsee the problem?Originally posted by zenden9:Maybe time for Spore power to goes nuclear!!! Nuclear power will not be like gas,just off means off! It takes some time for the plutonium to use up and during the time u can go and get some supply! I know small countries like Taiwan and Israel got a number of nuclear power plant.I know people will ask for accident issues but taiwan and israel have been using nuclear for many yrs and nothing happen,u just need to take care with this things!
By the way,what if spore and indonesia has some argruement and indonesia cut off the supply?
but then... it aint the first time this has happened... somebody really need to get a brain upstair. -
Will haf to compare the life-cycle cost of the generators as compared to the cost of buying power and fuels s.a. natural gas in order to determine the cost-benefit effect of the situation .. the issue actually does touch on the issue of juz how dependent S'pore are on their neighbours and the stark reality of our scarce (in dis case absolutely dun have) natural resources... everything oso gotta buy and rely on the supply conditions which may or may not be under our control, we are virtually under their mercy should they decide to cook up some story and disrupt supplies .... if after an investigation, its found to be Indon's fault ... dun think can realistically expect them to apologise and offer to pay us compensation yah ?Originally posted by the Bear:wars have a devastating and LASTING effect.. and may cause the end of the nation....
a 45-minute blackout will not..
that is the difference..
do you go pro-active and build another power generator costing a couple of billion and total redundancy in case of blackout? or do you react to it?
which is cheaper and more effective?
do NOT confuse the issues...
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Imagine no water ?
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WAR!Originally posted by Temujin:Imagine no water ? -
I heard from my friend that one of his relative was having dinner in a coffee shop and the black out hit there oso, he was was panic that he start to take off forgetting his bag and some other ppl in the coffee oso start to run.
Within a few second he realise he left his bag behind and went back for it but it was no where to be found
Handphone $500+ gone, key in bag lost, call locksmith $100+, Lock inself 100+, door HDB prize unknown, need to break.
He asking can claim not??? -
I think it's just a matter of lack of knowledge of emergencies.
The old lady probably didn't know exactly what to do during the black out and decided to call police for help. But students, citizens like me are adequately educated to know how to handle blackouts and therefore we wouldn't panic like her.
The line was full because everyone who didn't know what to do dialled in. If proper instructions and guidelines were given out as precautions, people might respond to it better. I don't mean read the guidebook after the blackout started.
Maybe more of those mock emergencies exercises would benefit. -
Don't know about the rest......but in a blackout I tend to spread my hands out and squeeze! I apologise, forget to add the most important part.........the running away after!Originally posted by Joshua1975: I heard from my friend that one of his relative was having dinner in a coffee shop and the black out hit there oso, he was was panic that he start to take off forgetting his bag and some other ppl in the coffee oso start to run.
Within a few second he realise he left his bag behind and went back for it but it was no where to be found Handphone $500+ gone, key in bag lost, call locksmith $100+, Lock inself 100+, door HDB prize unknown, need to break.
He asking can claim not???
Any data on number of molest cases reported last night? -
Got, at 1st no suspect in mind but now got....hmmm, gonna look u up soon.Originally posted by Fairyland:Don't know about the rest......but in a blackout I tend to spread my hands out and squeeze! I apologise, forget to add the most important part.........the running away after!
Any data on number of molest cases reported last night?