This was my take on 3 May 2009 when the World Health Organisation first raised an worldwide alert and identified as H1N1 the virus that caused the pandemic in Mexico in Spring 2009:
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
ANN1H1LATION
Re: H1N1 Outbreak, May 2009
This was my take on 3 May 2009 when the World Health Organisation first raised an worldwide alert and identified as H1N1 the virus that caused the pandemic in Mexico in Spring 2009:
This was my take on 3 May 2009 when the World Health Organisation first raised an worldwide alert and identified as H1N1 the virus that caused the pandemic in Mexico in Spring 2009:
Friday, June 18, 2010
A Watershed Year?
Re: Orchard Road Flood 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 – A big flood happens in Singapore in a place where it is not supposed to happen: the famous shopping hub and tourist attraction of Singapore - Orchard Road.
The flood turned Orchard Road into a river of mud, with cars half-submerged and debris floating about. It was a scene one would have mistaken from television and newspaper pictures to be from Philippines, Thailand or Indonesia, never from first-world Singapore, and of Orchard Road to boot!
The last time a major flood happened in Orchard Road was in 1984. Because of this, the Stamford Canal was upgraded and widened to ensure that Orchard Road would never be flooded again.
That year, 1984, then turned out to be a watershed for Singapore. On December 22, 1984, Singapore went to the poll and, for the first time, the People’s Action Party, which had won every single seat in every general election held, lost 2 seats to the opposition!
With a general election widely expected this year, would 2010 similarly turn out to be another watershed for Singapore?
Well, there were occasional major floods in other places in Singapore, so why should the Orchard Road flood mean anything?
Maybe because floods, being often taken as signs from heaven, usually do not occur in carefully planned metropolitan areas with well thought-out drainage, such as what Orchard Road is. And Orchard Road, being the premier shopping attraction of Singapore, is truly the most recognized place of Singapore.
The flood happened in this high-class shopping belt during the annual GSS, i.e. the Great Singapore Sale. But Singaporeans who are tightening their belt, and who yet need to spend, will more likely have in their minds the other three-letter acronym also beginning with “GS”, i.e. GST, the Goods and Services Tax, which stayed at 7% through the recession.
Orchard Road has Electronic Road Pricing, the train line, buses and taxis, i.e. all the transportation components whose fares and charges are an issue to a fair number of residents.
Orchard Road has a large gathering of foreign maids (on Sundays in Lucky Plaza, which was seriously flooded) for whom the level of levy that local employers pay is also an issue to some families.
And Orchard Road has super luxurious $4,000+ per square foot properties that seem to emphasize the rich-poor divide to the average Singaporean going there.
Clogged culvert causing flood, or a sign of things to come?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 – A big flood happens in Singapore in a place where it is not supposed to happen: the famous shopping hub and tourist attraction of Singapore - Orchard Road.
The flood turned Orchard Road into a river of mud, with cars half-submerged and debris floating about. It was a scene one would have mistaken from television and newspaper pictures to be from Philippines, Thailand or Indonesia, never from first-world Singapore, and of Orchard Road to boot!
The last time a major flood happened in Orchard Road was in 1984. Because of this, the Stamford Canal was upgraded and widened to ensure that Orchard Road would never be flooded again.
That year, 1984, then turned out to be a watershed for Singapore. On December 22, 1984, Singapore went to the poll and, for the first time, the People’s Action Party, which had won every single seat in every general election held, lost 2 seats to the opposition!
With a general election widely expected this year, would 2010 similarly turn out to be another watershed for Singapore?
Well, there were occasional major floods in other places in Singapore, so why should the Orchard Road flood mean anything?
Maybe because floods, being often taken as signs from heaven, usually do not occur in carefully planned metropolitan areas with well thought-out drainage, such as what Orchard Road is. And Orchard Road, being the premier shopping attraction of Singapore, is truly the most recognized place of Singapore.
The flood happened in this high-class shopping belt during the annual GSS, i.e. the Great Singapore Sale. But Singaporeans who are tightening their belt, and who yet need to spend, will more likely have in their minds the other three-letter acronym also beginning with “GS”, i.e. GST, the Goods and Services Tax, which stayed at 7% through the recession.
Orchard Road has Electronic Road Pricing, the train line, buses and taxis, i.e. all the transportation components whose fares and charges are an issue to a fair number of residents.
Orchard Road has a large gathering of foreign maids (on Sundays in Lucky Plaza, which was seriously flooded) for whom the level of levy that local employers pay is also an issue to some families.
And Orchard Road has super luxurious $4,000+ per square foot properties that seem to emphasize the rich-poor divide to the average Singaporean going there.
Clogged culvert causing flood, or a sign of things to come?
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