Acting before God Acts

It hurts to see the devastation of the floods in the southern peninsular. The rain, when too much of a beautiful thing, has a price. It was, no doubt, an Act of God for the most part.

For the most part.

Still, hard questions need to be asked and reference points sought to understand the nature - or nurture - of this aqueous beast. The hardest question is perhaps "Did we ask for it?"

In our country, heavy rains fell in Johor, Melaka, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan. Of the 31 monitoring stations in Johor, the highest was recorded in Johor Baru, which recorded 289mm of rainfall in a 24-hour period on Tuesday (Dec19).


JB sits sister-adjacent to Singapore, divided by the Tebrau Straits. Because of its geographic proximity, it's certain the rains fell hard there too. Very hard actually. It recorded the third highest rainfall in 75 years - being pummelled by 366mm of rain in the same 24-hour period. That's 3 inches more than JB's recording.

There were massive traffice jams, a landslide and fallen trees. There was chest-high flooding at a lower-level strip of nurseries at Thompson Rd nearby MacRitichie Reservoir.

At the end of the day, the hard fact is this - civilian casualties: Zero. Not a single person was evacuated even though Singapore has its share of landed property, subterranean MRT lines, and basement carparks. The drains channeled the water out safely. Electricity supply continued uninterupted, ditto water supply. Car owners moaned about repair bills, nursery owners were hit by lost business, but all in, it was a very uncomfortable, very wet few days. And that was that.

On our side of the Causeway, the number of displaced inhabitants has now passed 80,000 individuals. Seven lives have been lost; seven lives too many.

True, it was an Act of God. But some things cause pause for ponder. When two scenarios are examined side by side given similar conditions, lessons bubble to the surface.


Consider this: Segamat is an inland town, about 50km from the Straits of Melaka, and averages about 60 feet above sea level. The Sungai Segamat runs through the town on its meandering way to Muar. It runs down an incline. There isn't a reservoir upstream which could have overflowed. And yet, it was the worst-hit town. What really caused the floods? A beaver dam?

Even more curious: What magic spell protected the more exposed and water-ringed Singapore from being wreaked by the very same rains? Was it fengshui? Vashtu sastra? A Temasik bomoh?

Or was it just plain foresight, planning and implementation? That every tax-payer's dollar spent, be it drainage, transportation lines or schools must count and be put to optimum effect? In short, integrity counts. And having the right people doing the right job.

Singapore knew God would act and worked at it.

Did we?


Photo credits:
JB flood: NST
Singapore flood: Channel News Asia
Segamat satelite image: Google Earth