Stronger Together in National Disasters
- ejorigin
- Oct 12, 2023
- 6 min read
Written by: Terrence Tay (23-A2)
Designed by: Sophie Ho (23-E3)
We did it before, and we’ll do it again: Sound familiar? These are the lyrics of the 2021 theme song for National Day, “The Road Ahead”, released during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic to inspire national unity. The lyrics of the theme song seek to reflect not only the nation’s sentiments, but also its aspirations to build a more united social compact. Since its founding, Singapore has weathered many international storms—yet many may not be aware of some of the civic crises that showcase the true unity between the government and the people.
Case Study 1: The Sentosa Cable Car Accident (1983)
Sentosa–an offshore abode of serenity, away from the hustle and bustle of mainland Singapore. One way to access Sentosa in style is via cable car, where the panoramic journey begins from Mount Faber. Exactly 4 decades ago, however, a tragic accident may have served to alter the perception of many on the island of peace and tranquillity.
Sentosa’s cable car rail system began its operations in 1974, with a maximum height clearance of 60 metres. During its construction in 1973, the cable car system had a close encounter with larger ships entering Keppel Harbour when a passenger ship touched the cables. Its crew was able to pull the vessel astern in time, to avoid a full collision. On 29 January 1983, history would repeat itself but with a vastly different ending. The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) received a request to move a newly converted ship installed with a drilling derrick (a structure to support oil drilling operations) which towered 69 metres from the wharf out to sea with the use of two tugs. During the tugging process, the towline of one of the tugs unhooked and fell into the water. The remaining tug could not prevent the ship from drifting with the tide. To avoid a collision with the wharf, the tugboat crew decided to quickly manoeuvre the ship using the main engine, causing the ship to move rapidly towards the cableway.
The top of the derrick made immediate contact with the cableway, causing 2 of 15 cable cars on the cableway to dislodge, plunging into the water, with 5 passengers in one of the cars, while the other was empty. The passengers were killed. Another cable car oscillated violently, causing 3 of its 7 passengers to be flung out of the car, killing 2 of them. The third miraculously survived the 55 metre drop into the water and was rescued by a PSA staff. Now, rescuers had to work with 13 people trapped in 4 cars-2 over land and 2 on water.
The rescue operation was supervised by then-Second Permanent Secretary for the Defence Ministry Phillip Yeo (later Chairman of the Economic Development Board) and was commanded by then-Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Colonel Lee Hsien Loong. The Army, Navy and Air Force were activated for the night-time rescue operation. Then-Colonel Lee had 3 solutions presented to him and decided on the third: Winchmen would be lowered from military helicopters to mount a rescue operation, despite fears that the cars’ movements may be affected by the downdraught from the helicopter’s blades. Lieutenant Geoff Ledger, who was deployed from the Royal Australian Navy to teach search-and-rescue, also volunteered to pilot one of the helicopters. The operation concluded with 7 people rescued from the 4 cars.
Then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew ordered an official inquiry which found that the failure of the towering mechanism and negligence on the part of the ship crew who did not inform PSA staff of the ship’s height. Thereafter, stricter height regulations were then imposed on vessels entering Keppel Harbour . The cable car system resumed operations in August 1983 after test runs. The SAF also developed the new procedures for future rescue operations.
Case Study 2: The Hotel New World Collapse (1986)
At the cross junction of Serangoon Road and Owen Road stands the Fortuna Hotel, a three-star hotel. This bustling district was the site of a historic incident which marks the first known, large-scale, structural disaster since Singapore’s independence. 37 years ago, a similar hotel by the name of Hotel New World was housed in the six storey building which occupies the present site of the Fortuna Hotel.
Constructed by a profit-driven businessman, the building housed Hotel New World, a nightclub and bank among its tenants, simultaneously boasting a basement carpark. In its early years, Hotel New World was featured in news reports when a carbon monoxide leak occurred in 1975, a warning sign that was brushed aside by its owner despite safety concerns raised by the staff. On 14 March 1986, a pillar in the nightclub revealed cracks in the foundations under the plaster and staff raised the obvious fault to the building owner–who brushed it aside, once more as he did on numerous occasions of similar occurrences, ordering the walls to be supported by wooden poles. As if the alarm bells were not loud enough, Hotel New World collapsed on the morning of 15 March 1986. After the smoke from the collapse cleared, onlookers were horrified by the sight before them: the six-storey building was reduced to rubble. Paranoia overtook the site.
Prior to the arrival of the Fire Service, volunteers such as Eric Niam directed onlookers away from the scene and shouted for smokers to stay away from the rubble when he picked up the smell of gas, which could have led to a bigger disaster, while the medically trained like Red Cross volunteer David Yeo who lived nearby began mobilising passersby to help remove surface rubble, freeing the trapped. “This is the team spirit of Singaporeans,” he remarked in an interview with Channel News Asia for their documentary “Days of Disaster” True enough, untrained personnel worked together with the Fire Service to remove surface rubble in the first hours of the rescue operation, while volunteers helped to provide food and offer trauma-assistance to the quiet relatives of those trapped, who were gathered at nearby holding areas like coffee shops, anxiously awaiting for updates.
Following the formation of an Executive Group, professionals from the Police, Military, medical services and the newly-formed Civil Defence Force took over. Rescuers pumped fresh air into the building for the survivors. Following advice from a visiting Israeli civil defence consultant, building rubble had to be removed painstakingly, layer by layer, to reach victims near ground level. More than 7 hours after the collapse, heavy machinery was roped in to clear the rubble. Doubt began to stir over the plan, however, as only corpses were unearthed. Every second that passed would bring survivors trapped at the basement closer to death. After requesting for the building plans and assistance from Mass Rapid Transit Corporation’s British and Irish tunnelling experts, survivors trapped in the bank, which sank into the basement, were rescued when engineers dug three tunnels. This occurred 36 hours later. Yet, not everyone entombed survived the 36 hour ordeal. As tunnels dug began to become more unstable, engineers closed the tunnels and excavators were brought back to remove the dead from the rubble. The operation saw 33 dead and 17 rescued.
Then-President Wee Kim Wee appointed a Commission of Inquiry to look into the collapse for 5 months, which revealed that the building’s structure was simply not designed to withstand the weight of six stories, causing cracks on pillars to emerge and widen over 15 years. On 15 March 1986, 2 columns gave way, which led to a domino chain, bringing the building to ground zero. Recommendations to improve the building code were then made to prevent a further disaster. Then-Home Affairs Minister Professor S. Jayakumar reflected that “the prospects seemed daunting because we had never really trained for this kind of situation”. He then launched the Joint Civil Defence Force in 1989 in a bid to merge the Fire Service and the Civil Defence Force, later giving rise to the elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team or DART, which has rendered disaster relief aid at home or abroad. While it took a costly lesson for Singapore to feel a sense of national unity and cooperation, the valiant response of volunteers and professionals in the fight to save lives is a resilient front that has since been embedded in our national identity.
From these case studies, the swift response of the people and the government demonstrates the strength of our national unity, seeing us through storms even in the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Singapore has done it before and we can do it again, no matter the challenge presented to our people, as long as we stay united.
References:
Case Study 1:
Case Study 2:
Comments