Friday, October 2, 2009

Fresh tremors felt in S'pore

Oct 1, 2009
Fresh tremors felt in S'pore

FRESH tremors were reported in several parts of Singapore for a second day on Thursday morning.

Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force received more than 60 calls from the public reporting these tremors, shortly after a second earthquake with a 6.8-magnitude hit southern Sumatra, about 480 km southwest from Singapore, at 9.52 am.

Areas that felt the tremors include the Central Business District (CBD), Beach Road, Teban Gardens, Pasir Panjang, Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio, Yishun, Sengkang, Punggol, Sims Drive, Marine Parade, Tanjong Rhu, Woodlands, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West.

No reports of injury nor law and order concerns have been received so far, said police.

On Wednesday, tremors were felt in 234 buildings in Singapore on Wednesday evening soon after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra Coast.

They included 187 Housing Board flats, 16 private residential buildings and 31 commercial buildings, said police in an update early on Thursday morning.

Engineers from the HDB and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) inspected all the affected buildings and found them to be structurally safe and sound.

Thousands of Singaporeans had a fright when they felt tremors in the wake of the strong earthquake on Wednesday at about 6.15pm.

Scores of office workers and residents streamed out of some buildings in areas such as Raffles Place and Changi, and tremors were felt islandwide from Kembangan to Woodlands.

Some 170 calls about the tremors were also made to the authorities.

In a update on the tremors on Thursday, police assured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

'Buildings in Singapore are designed to established building codes and are sufficiently robust to withstand tremors caused by distant earthquakes,' said a police statement.

Should cracks or other structural defects develop, residents or occupants in public housing estates should call the Housing Board's Essential Maintenance Service Unit's 24-Hour Hotline at 6275 5555 or 6354 3333 while those in private buildings should call the Building & Construction Authority at 6325 7191 or 6325 7393.

EMPRR Global Summit (24-25 November 2009, Grande Copthorne Waterfront) will highlight preparedness and response tactics from global responders to ensure safety of property, lives and continuity of your business.

For more info, call 6844 2080 or info@arcmediaglobal.com

No comments:

Post a Comment