Singapore Not Completely Immune From Tsunamis: Expert

Singapore not completely immune from tsunamis: expert

Fri Sep 19, 2008

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore, one of Asia's wealthiest cities, is not completely immune from a tsunami and should prepare for the possibility, an expert on coastal areas warned Friday.

The island-state can be hit by a tsunami generated from three locations and the waves could damage key coastal infrastructure without being too high, said Professor Wong Poh Poh of the National University of Singapore geography department.

"It's not that we are totally immune. No, we are not immune," Wong said.

He was speaking at a news conference to launch a report, by the aid and development organisation World Vision, on the impact of climate change on poor people.

To cause damage, waves hitting Singapore need not be as huge as the ones that devastated Indonesia's Aceh in December 2004, killing 168,000 people, Wong said.

Aceh was struck by a wave about 10 metres (33 feet) high.

"We don't need 10 metres. The problem with Singapore is... we have a lot of infrastructure on the coast. All you need is a very low wave to just come in and hit certain areas," he said.

"Changi Airport will be very vulnerable," he said, adding the man-made island of Jurong which houses a sprawling petrochemical complex is also at risk, and urged the government to commission a study on tsunamis.