Tsunami and tremors: Aiya, don’t be so paranoid lah - how can happen here!

As we laze another weekend, and prepare for another week ahead of snarling traffic jams to and from work, how many of us have ever wondered about the frequency of earthquakes and tsunamis in the region?

Well, indifferent as we have been made out to be by a government of over fifty years, in all likelihood there are only two possible answers to the above question.

One, is to dismiss the need to be concerned with a cynical remark, “aiya, don’t be so paranoid lah – we are so far away from Indonesia and Japan-mah.”

Or the other stance would be one of “if it's fated what can we do lah.”

Fated, meh? No need to do anything, is it?

It is an established fact that the Ring of Fire is very active and the world is watching closely. It is also a well accepted fact that some day in the future we will be drenched with the mother of all tsunamis when the plates make a vertical slip and come crushing to a grinding halt after slipping silently over extended periods.

Now the reality is, every time we feel tremors from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and we scurry out of all the choking high-rise structures we have, have we wondered if with each shudder, are our buildings weakened in their foundations and structures?

And who is looking into this probability?

Or shall we because of our indifferent and care-a-less mindsets, just wait for some disaster nationwide to happen and subsequently start that blaming circus?

Has the government set up a national taskforce to seriously carry out tests on all our buildings especially those that we had put up at great speed twenty, thirty years before?

Complete apathy

The other question that should get the authorities cracking is, why are there no provisions for emergency assembly open spaces in our city and town planning? If there are then why can not see open padangs between clusters of buildings?

Look at how every single piece of land is being grabbed to put up high density, high-rise buildings. Look at how we rush to build without any regard for evacuation plans and facilities. Look at how high-rise buildings – from low cost flats to commercial assets manage (mismanage rather) their emergency exit passageways.

One would shudder to think how many lives would be lost not because of a disaster inflicted by nature but one that is compounded by our authorities’ sheer lack of interest in this matter.

If single-story houses can be built only to sink without an earthquake; the highland towers that had actually collapsed despite all kinds of defensive claims that all was well; if trees can fall and roads overflow from a twelve hour rainfall, it is a nightmare to even think what is the actual state of our high-rise buildings given the series and spades of earth movements above 6.5 on the Ritchie scale that we have been registering frequently of late.

Will the authorities – especially the Cabinet members raise this matter with speed or is it of lesser significance than the race and religion and sex matters that they keep championing so outrageously as the general elections draws closer?

Or shall we opt for the usual main stream media song that “the rakyat must also play their role”?

It's the PM who must show the way

The one person who should be talking to the rakyat and also demonstrating that he truly has his ears cocked to hear the concerns and has the heart to care for the people is the prime minister himself.

The Honorable Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib must respond to this concern that is expedient in the wake of the prevailing geological circumstances and the fact that our buildings are not 100% in compliance to maximum safety standards.

Hopefully the PM will address the nation on this with believable solutions.

Malaysia Chronicle