Here are two newspaper articles from The Straits Times that shows the damage caused by mass movements in Singapore.
Hillview Estate Hit By Another Mudslide
Section: Home
By: TRACY SUA, TEH JOO LIN
Publication: The Straits Times 05/02/2007
Page: H1
No. of words: 556
BCA declares three homes out of bounds after latest incident.
ANOTHER mudslide, probably triggered by wet weather, hit semi-detached houses in Upper Bukit Timah's Hillview estate.
This "avalanche" in Jalan Dermawan happened recently, along the same slope and about 100m away from the first one.
The first time it happened on Dec 19, three houses were swamped by mud and debris. The affected families have since been given the all-clear and have moved back home.
The Building & Construction Authority (BCA) has now declared three houses – Nos. 100, 102 and 104 – out of bounds.
The families in 100 and 102 were spared the shock of seeing mud and debris crashing into their homes because they managed to evacuate three hours before the retaining wall in their backyards gave way; the family in 104 made it out of there just in time.
The BCA issued the order to the families to evacuate after it had been alerted to soil movements by the Defence Ministry, which had installed movement sensors there in late December.
On the evening of the second mudslide on Jan 12, Daniel Lim, a 16-year-old student living in No. 106, was playing computer games in his room at about 9pm when he heard a crash.
He recalled: "It was not that loud, more like a table crashing...Then I heard one of the neighbours shout 'Get out!' and all of us rushed out."
A mess in the backyards of Nos. 100, 102 and 104 greeted the residents: Soil and vegetation, till then held back by the wall, was all over the backyards.
The most affected house, No. 102, had debris about one-storey high covering the maid's room and kitchen; No. 100 had a new wall of mud kissing its back wall. A mini basketball court that used to put 10m between the house and the slope was gone; No. 104's backyard was piled with broken pieces of the wall and vegetation.
The next day, the land owner, Far East Organization, laid canvas sheets to protect the slope. It teamed up with Mindef's professional engineers to remove soil from the hilltop to reduce the load on the slope and to stabilise it. Movement detectors have also been installed to check for shifts in the soil, which has seemed stable since.
One of the three households has accepted Far East Organization's offer of accommodation.
Hong Kah GRC MP Ang Mong Seng, who recently met the estate's residents, BCA, Far East Organization and Mindef about the situation, said Mindef and Far East Organization were doing "a good job" with slope works and clearing the debris.
At Jalan Girang in Braddell estate and Westlake Avenue off Thomson Road, slope-shoring works are also going on, following landslides in late December.
A Land Transport Authority spokesman said the debris from a Jan 12 landslide at Jalan Anak Bukit near Beauty World has been cleared. The slope has been covered with canvas and the slip road to the Pan-Island Expressway has been reopened.
Meanwhile, as the rains abate and the Chinese New Year approaches, nurseries along Thomson Road are going all out to recoup the millions in losses they incurred in the December floods. Ms Sharon Goh, who runs Candy Greenhouse & Flowers, said: "We have to earn back to cover our losses."
Homes Hit By Landslides: Who Pays Bill?
Section: Home
By: TRACY SUA
Publication: The Straits Times 10/01/2007
Page: H6
No. of words: 634
AFTERMATH OF DECEMBER FLOODS: Home owners still unsure if they will get help for repairs
JALAN Dermawan resident James Tan's home is in shambles.
Its broken metal grille gate is lying inside the compound, a 7m-long perimeter wall is gone and there is mud everywhere.
"I was shocked. I had no idea it was this bad," said Mr Tan, 60, after visiting his two-storey semi-detached house last week.
On Dec 19, the Hillview Gardens estate unit was hit by tonnes of soil and vegetation, which slid down a 50m-high nearby slope as Singapore was battered by its heaviest rainfall in 137 years in the month of December.
More than 100 people were affected as landslides and floods hit several parts of the country.
Apart from Mr Tan and his wife, two other families living near the bottom of the slope have been asked to stay away until the land is stabilised and declared safe.
Jalan Dermawan is one of three areas where people were asked to evacuate their homes after being hit by landslides and landslips over the last two weeks of last month.
In Jalan Girang in Braddell estate and Westlake Avenue off Thomson Road, six houses were evacuated.
Most of those affected, including Mr Tan's family, have not been able to return home as repair works are still under way.
Mr Tan, an entrepreneur, was not aware of the full extent of the damage to his house because he left for Shanghai shortly after the landslide, returning to visit his house only on Jan 2.
Since the landslide, more than 1,600 truckloads of debris and soil have been removed from the area.
The Ministry of Defence, which owns the slope near Mr Tan's house, has been working to stabilise the ground and has put Mr Tan up in a chalet at The Chevrons, a club for warrant officers and specialists.
Mr Tan does not know how much the damage to his house will set him back, but a family car which was flipped over will cost about $42,000 to repair.
It is still unclear who will pay for the repairs – whether the owners of the affected houses will pay in full, or whether they will get help.
Mindef public affairs director Colonel Benedict Lim said: "To render the area safe for residents, the contractors are working to stabilise the lower sections of the slope, before proceeding to remove soil from the overhanging upper sections."
Work is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has written to 20 government departments and agencies with slopes or earth-retaining walls to remind them to inspect and maintain them regularly.
It estimates that advisories will be sent to more than 100 private land and home owners as a precautionary measure.
Landslides and landslips are rare in Singapore, with the BCA saying that, besides last month's incidents, there has been only one recorded case in the past three years.
The incessant rainfall last month also caused havoc in some areas – particularly among nurseries in Thomson Road.
Hawaii Landscape executive director Lilian Koh, 55, said: "Everytime there's a heavy downpour, I get scared" because a flood is likely to follow in the low-lying area.
The landscape company, which was flooded on Dec 19, estimates it has suffered damage of $500,000.
At nearby landscape firm Nature Company, three truckloads of debris have been carted away.
Nature Company assistant general manager Ivan Tan, 49, said the company raised the level of the compound by 300mm to 400mm three years ago and by about 500mm just two months ago.
"Raising it further will be very costly as we would have to elevate the whole building," he said.
He estimates the company has lost more than $200,000 in products damaged by water.
Credit: http://newslink.asiaone.com/
Hillview Estate Hit By Another Mudslide
Section: Home
By: TRACY SUA, TEH JOO LIN
Publication: The Straits Times 05/02/2007
Page: H1
No. of words: 556
BCA declares three homes out of bounds after latest incident.
ANOTHER mudslide, probably triggered by wet weather, hit semi-detached houses in Upper Bukit Timah's Hillview estate.
This "avalanche" in Jalan Dermawan happened recently, along the same slope and about 100m away from the first one.
The first time it happened on Dec 19, three houses were swamped by mud and debris. The affected families have since been given the all-clear and have moved back home.
The Building & Construction Authority (BCA) has now declared three houses – Nos. 100, 102 and 104 – out of bounds.
The families in 100 and 102 were spared the shock of seeing mud and debris crashing into their homes because they managed to evacuate three hours before the retaining wall in their backyards gave way; the family in 104 made it out of there just in time.
The BCA issued the order to the families to evacuate after it had been alerted to soil movements by the Defence Ministry, which had installed movement sensors there in late December.
On the evening of the second mudslide on Jan 12, Daniel Lim, a 16-year-old student living in No. 106, was playing computer games in his room at about 9pm when he heard a crash.
He recalled: "It was not that loud, more like a table crashing...Then I heard one of the neighbours shout 'Get out!' and all of us rushed out."
A mess in the backyards of Nos. 100, 102 and 104 greeted the residents: Soil and vegetation, till then held back by the wall, was all over the backyards.
The most affected house, No. 102, had debris about one-storey high covering the maid's room and kitchen; No. 100 had a new wall of mud kissing its back wall. A mini basketball court that used to put 10m between the house and the slope was gone; No. 104's backyard was piled with broken pieces of the wall and vegetation.
The next day, the land owner, Far East Organization, laid canvas sheets to protect the slope. It teamed up with Mindef's professional engineers to remove soil from the hilltop to reduce the load on the slope and to stabilise it. Movement detectors have also been installed to check for shifts in the soil, which has seemed stable since.
One of the three households has accepted Far East Organization's offer of accommodation.
Hong Kah GRC MP Ang Mong Seng, who recently met the estate's residents, BCA, Far East Organization and Mindef about the situation, said Mindef and Far East Organization were doing "a good job" with slope works and clearing the debris.
At Jalan Girang in Braddell estate and Westlake Avenue off Thomson Road, slope-shoring works are also going on, following landslides in late December.
A Land Transport Authority spokesman said the debris from a Jan 12 landslide at Jalan Anak Bukit near Beauty World has been cleared. The slope has been covered with canvas and the slip road to the Pan-Island Expressway has been reopened.
Meanwhile, as the rains abate and the Chinese New Year approaches, nurseries along Thomson Road are going all out to recoup the millions in losses they incurred in the December floods. Ms Sharon Goh, who runs Candy Greenhouse & Flowers, said: "We have to earn back to cover our losses."
Homes Hit By Landslides: Who Pays Bill?
Section: Home
By: TRACY SUA
Publication: The Straits Times 10/01/2007
Page: H6
No. of words: 634
AFTERMATH OF DECEMBER FLOODS: Home owners still unsure if they will get help for repairs
JALAN Dermawan resident James Tan's home is in shambles.
Its broken metal grille gate is lying inside the compound, a 7m-long perimeter wall is gone and there is mud everywhere.
"I was shocked. I had no idea it was this bad," said Mr Tan, 60, after visiting his two-storey semi-detached house last week.
On Dec 19, the Hillview Gardens estate unit was hit by tonnes of soil and vegetation, which slid down a 50m-high nearby slope as Singapore was battered by its heaviest rainfall in 137 years in the month of December.
More than 100 people were affected as landslides and floods hit several parts of the country.
Apart from Mr Tan and his wife, two other families living near the bottom of the slope have been asked to stay away until the land is stabilised and declared safe.
Jalan Dermawan is one of three areas where people were asked to evacuate their homes after being hit by landslides and landslips over the last two weeks of last month.
In Jalan Girang in Braddell estate and Westlake Avenue off Thomson Road, six houses were evacuated.
Most of those affected, including Mr Tan's family, have not been able to return home as repair works are still under way.
Mr Tan, an entrepreneur, was not aware of the full extent of the damage to his house because he left for Shanghai shortly after the landslide, returning to visit his house only on Jan 2.
Since the landslide, more than 1,600 truckloads of debris and soil have been removed from the area.
The Ministry of Defence, which owns the slope near Mr Tan's house, has been working to stabilise the ground and has put Mr Tan up in a chalet at The Chevrons, a club for warrant officers and specialists.
Mr Tan does not know how much the damage to his house will set him back, but a family car which was flipped over will cost about $42,000 to repair.
It is still unclear who will pay for the repairs – whether the owners of the affected houses will pay in full, or whether they will get help.
Mindef public affairs director Colonel Benedict Lim said: "To render the area safe for residents, the contractors are working to stabilise the lower sections of the slope, before proceeding to remove soil from the overhanging upper sections."
Work is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has written to 20 government departments and agencies with slopes or earth-retaining walls to remind them to inspect and maintain them regularly.
It estimates that advisories will be sent to more than 100 private land and home owners as a precautionary measure.
Landslides and landslips are rare in Singapore, with the BCA saying that, besides last month's incidents, there has been only one recorded case in the past three years.
The incessant rainfall last month also caused havoc in some areas – particularly among nurseries in Thomson Road.
Hawaii Landscape executive director Lilian Koh, 55, said: "Everytime there's a heavy downpour, I get scared" because a flood is likely to follow in the low-lying area.
The landscape company, which was flooded on Dec 19, estimates it has suffered damage of $500,000.
At nearby landscape firm Nature Company, three truckloads of debris have been carted away.
Nature Company assistant general manager Ivan Tan, 49, said the company raised the level of the compound by 300mm to 400mm three years ago and by about 500mm just two months ago.
"Raising it further will be very costly as we would have to elevate the whole building," he said.
He estimates the company has lost more than $200,000 in products damaged by water.
Credit: http://newslink.asiaone.com/
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