The most tok about topic currently in SG is the haze caused by forest burning in our dear neighbour- Indonesia. Never in my near 30years life in SG had I experience such bad quality air be it here or where else. Not even when I was in Beijing and met with a sand storm.
There is a lingering stench of burning smell in the air, a cloud of smoke blocking the view and of cuz much more harmful mirco particles in the air which cannot see is going into our body thru our breathing system for every breath we take. How scary.
Its has been nearly a week and I reckon that it is here to stay for weeks more till the fire are extinguish and cooled down.
Singaporeans are well past the stage of blaming our neighbour as we shifted our attention back to homeland to adjust oursleves to live with the unfavourable conditions.
Masks are snapped up everywhere, open air coffee shops are empty, food supplies fly off NTUC rack faster u can say "Haze", 75% of plp I see on the road are wearing masks which is much more than SARS in 2003. Singaporeans are doing what we can in our own capacity to tide over this difficult period.
What I lacked in mentioning here is our government. Yes, our dear white man party. You know what? I neber really pinned my hopes on them for help.
From the start of this haze, when the PSI readings shot up faster than a high blood pressure patient's pressure, they took 2hrs to hold an emergency press conference only to tell us nothing that we dunno of.
While most people are wishing for a delcared holiday, I hoped that I can go back to office the next day. Not that I am a workaholic.Every night, I come home to a smoky living room and had to immediately seek refuge in my aircon room. If we are struck at home whole day, then we will have to on the aircon at longer hrs. Thus, if all office staff reports to work, they will help to cut down on the electricity usage at home. Futhermore, it is stated that its better to stay in a air conditioned enviornment as the filter will help block out some particles. So there, office staff please do not wish for a day off, going to work actually have more advantages than staying at home.
What I wished to see is, the minister addressing what they planned to do. Sending a delegation in my humble opinion is of no use. You mean they do not know that they will need to put out fire that happens in their own backyard till we need some a whole group of people to remind them? I would rather you first focus on what to do back home.
Of cuz, to issue stop work order will affect our economy, but you will have to weight the consequences dont you? Why not consider to halt construction works 1st? Every morning, I past by the Jurong hospital construction sites and still see many foreign workers toiling under the hazy conditions. MOM should spare a thought for these workers. It is already hazardous enough to work in a construction site, it is as good as killing them slowly by making them work in a construction site under these hazy conditions.
Granted, companies might suffer losses during stop work order, especially when they cannot deliver the finished buildings on time. But as government, you mean you can make some leeway? Stopping constructions for all government related constructions( Flats, hospitals, expressways, MRT) might set a good examples for those in the private sectors. When our government is not taking the 1st step, how you expect the others to follow suit?
I also feel that this whole haze is being downplayed by our govt. We were not informed on the consqueuences of various PSI readings. The advisory are so vauge. Masks are sold out everywhere though govt claimed they have enough stock in warehouses. Why didnt you act promptly to dispatch the masks out but to wait till panic sets in before deciding to act and thus cause a shortage islandwide? On top of these, you created an opportunity for those black hearted people to sell their remaining stock at high rocket prices. People with urgent use of them will have no choice but to buy.
Those who waited will have to suffer more under these hazardous condition till the supply stabilise. This is no way to handle an emergency contingency. We always pride ourselves as a country with efficient government but as far as I can see, those press conferences held by the government are nothing but paying lip service to their people.
We were urged to stay calm, be patient and get through this crisis as a whole nation. As much as I wished to do so, I felt helpless at the lack of information passed to us on what we can do. The only good thing that came out of this whole episode is, colleagues in my office get together to look out for 1 another.
I have colleagues offering help to buy lunch in for those who are not feeling too well to go out for lunch, people buying herbal tea for each other, updating each other on which area have stocks for masks for adults and kids. I am tasked to check the PSI reading every hour to announce the reading though many a times I think the readings are bullshit. I think I give a more accurate reading by checking on the visibility outside our office. Taking a landmark building as guide, we roughly can estimated how high the reading is currently at.
So while we wait for this whole episode to blown over (which is estimated to be in Oct), there is nothing much we can to but to take extra care on our part and suffer in silence.
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