Expert : Singapore not tsunami-proof

Batam, Riau province, (ANTARA News) – Singapore is not at all free from the risk of being devastated by a tsunami, an expert from the National Geography Department of the University of Singapore, Professor Wong Poh Poh, said here Saturday.

“It doesn`t take a tidal wave as high as the one that engulfed Aceh to destroy many key infrastructures in Singapore,” he said in a talk with Channel News Asia monitored by Antara here.

Almost four years ago (December 26, 2008), a tsunami (10m high) hit Aceh and killed 168,000 people.

The problem in Singapore, said Wong, was that most of its infrastructures were located near beaches.

“It will only take a low tidal wave to hit and destroy those infrastructures and the areas around them,” he said.

Prof Wong said Singapore`s international airport (Changi) could be easily destroyed by a tsunami, and so could housing complexes in the Petrokimia area, Jurong Island.

Besides Singapore, tourist resorts and residential areas on Batam Island`s beaches (about 20 km from Changi and Jurong were also vulnerable to the destructive force of a tsunami, he said. (*)