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Tag: TKPS

  • Earth In Period Of Active Seismic Activity

    Earth In Period Of Active Seismic Activity

    Nature’s wrath struck in 2004, when a tsunami hit the coasts of several countries around the Indian Ocean. This marked the beginning of what geologists call an “active cycle”, where the Earth experiences greater seismic activity.

    Said Professor Kerry Sieh, director at the Earth Observatory of Singapore: “The Earth goes through cycles of seismic energy release, and less release and more release.

    “We have definitely been in the active cycle in the last 11 years since 2004. All the magnitude-8.4 earthquakes and bigger, up to 9.2, they all happened in the last 11 years. Several of those have been in Asia.”

    The previous active cycle was in the 1950s to mid-1960s, which saw several earthquakes with a magnitude of a high 8 and above 9. But for the next 40 years, there were no records of a quake with a magnitude above 8.3, until 2004.

    Since then, a string of devastating earthquakes has caused much destruction, like in Sumatra in 2005 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

    “We don’t know whether we are at the end of the cycle or not,” said Professor Sieh. “My hunch is we will continue to see a larger number of large earthquakes. But that’s only a hunch because we don’t really have a way of telling whether we are at the end of the cycle or not.”

    In response to the recent Sabah quake, Professor Sieh supported the call by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to relook safety protocols for climbers on Mount Kinabalu and also offered his team’s expertise.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Mountain Guide Who Carried Peony Wee: My Geart Felt Great Pain That Young Life Was Lost

    Mountain Guide Who Carried Peony Wee: My Geart Felt Great Pain That Young Life Was Lost

    THE GUIDE

    With a heavy heart, mountain guide Nizam Lokong helped carry Peony Wee Ying Ping’s body down Mount Kinabalu.

    The Tanjong Katong Primary School pupil was among the first named casualties after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.15am last Friday.

    Mr Lokong, 42, had been waiting to lead a group up the mountain when the earthquake struck.

    After climbs were cancelled, he joined scores of other guides in rescue efforts in the afternoon, climbing up to Laban Rata, near the summit of Mount Kinabalu.

    When he arrived at about 5pm, another guide had already found Peony’s body and placed her in a body bag.

    “We wanted to bring her body down quickly so she could be laid to rest as soon as possible,” Mr Lokong told The New Paper in an interview outside the Mount Kinabalu Guides And Porters Centre.

    He added that they did not want to leave her there in case more rocks fell during the aftershocks.

    At about 5.30pm, the guides put the body on a stretcher and 10 of them, including Mr Lokong, took turns to carry her down the hiking trail.

    There were at least four people carrying the stretcher at a time as they made their way down to Timpohon Gate, about 6km away.

    “The body wasn’t heavy but we had to make sure she didn’t fall off or hit anything,” said Mr Lokong.

    “The ground was rocked by aftershocks as we made our way through the jungle.”

    Night had started to fall about an hour into their journey, making it difficult to see where they were going.

    “As I carried the body down, my heart was feeling great pain that a young life had been lost,” said Mr Lokong, who has children of his own.

    “It was not just a body I was carrying down. She was someone’s child.”

    They finally reached the foothills of Mount Kinabalu at 10pm, descending nearly 1.5km on the way.

    THE SOCIAL MEDIA SENSATION

    A picture of a mountain guide carrying a boy on his back has been widely shared online.

    It was symbolic of the heroism of the mountain guides who risked life and limb to rescue stranded hikers.

    But Mr Rizuan Kauhinin, 25, had little idea about his online fame. He even seemed abashed to be interviewed by the media.

    Speaking of his deed that many have called heroic, Mr Kauhinin said he was simply doing what he had to.

    “I just wanted to bring the boy to safety,” he told The New Paper.

    He said he found the boy, believed to be a Tanjong Katong Primary School pupil, near the Villosa Shelter at KM 4.9 of the Mount Kinabalu Summit Trail.

    The boy could not walk because he had injured his back and left hand.

    Mr Kauhinin and a few other guides gave the boy some food and water before he lifted the boy and put him on his back, securing him with a harness.

    He tried to run as quickly as possible to get the boy to safety so his injuries could be tended to and also because he was worried of even more rockfall in case of aftershocks.

    “The boy kept moaning in pain during the journey, so when I got to Layang-Layang Hut (at the KM1 mark), we transferred him to a stretcher,” he said.

    When asked why he went up the mountain to help despite the risk of getting hurt in the aftershocks, he said it was what he was supposed to do.

    “As mountain guides, our own safety is secondary. When guests enter Kinabalu Park, they are under our care and we must do our very best.”

    THE PILOT

    In his 12 years’ flying, Laban Rata near the peak of Mount Kinabaluhas been one of the most difficult places he’s had to land, said search-and-rescue helicopter pilot Ahmad Fissol.

    The 36-year-old pilot with the Malaysian Fire Department said the rescue last Friday was made more difficult because of strong winds, heavy cloud cover and the small landing space.

    Rescue efforts yesterday were again hampered by heavy cloud cover, which left only half the mountain visible for most of the day.

    “We drop rescuers somewhere near the top so they don’t have to climb up, which helps them to conserve energy that can be focused on the search efforts,” said Captain Fissol.

    Since last Friday, he has made more than two dozen trips up and down the mountain to drop off rescuers.

    On Saturday, he picked up six of the nine bodies that were found near the via ferrata trail, a majority of them Singaporeans.

    It was challenging to land because of the high winds, he said.

    “I tried to land the helicopter three times before I was successful on the fourth.”

    And even then, he could not fully land and rescuers on the ground had only a minute to load six bodies on the MI171 helicopter.

    “After we lifted off, the winds were blowing my helicopter to the left, so I had no choice but to let it drift a bit before dipping down and picking up speed again,” he added.

    “If there had been a mountain there, we could have been in trouble.”

    ARRANGEMENT

    Capt Fissol said that three of the bodies were placed on racks which doubled up as stretchers and the other three were put on the cabin floor.

    He was showing The New Paper around his helicopter at a makeshift airfield in Kundasang, about 10 minutes’ drive from Kinabalu Park.

    From Laban Rata, it was a 20-minute flight to Kota Kinabalu International Airport, where he was met by an ambulance that took the bodies to the mortuary at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

    Asked about the grim cargo, he said it humbled him as a rescuer.

    “I came here expecting to see survivors but was later told I’d have to pick up bodies,” he said.

    “I felt sad that we couldn’t find more survivors. But even if it were a body, we must bring it home.”

     

    Source:

  • Sabah Quake Victim Muhammad Daanish Amran Remebered As Always Happy

    Sabah Quake Victim Muhammad Daanish Amran Remebered As Always Happy

    “He was looking forward to this Mount Kinabalu trip,” shared Syafiq Abdul Ghani, a close friend of Muhammad Daanish Amran, the Singaporean adventure guide who lost his life in the Sabah Quake last week. That was the last time Syafiq spoke to Daanish.

    The 22-year-old’s final trip was with Tanjong Katong Primary School on an expedition. Along with seven others from Singapore, he did not make it down the mountain.

    Syafiq met Daanish in 2011 when they were both volunteers with a Malay youth literary association, 4PM. They soon became fast friends. The group of volunteers often participated in activities together and had regular gatherings. “He was always excited about doing his job, he was always happy, he was always looking forward to every next project, every next event,” Syafiq told Channel NewsAsia.

    Another volunteer from the association, Mysara Mohamad Aljaru, remembers Daanish with equal fondness. “From the mischievous grin he always had on his face to our inside jokes and ‘deep talks’, he always never failed to annoy yet cheer me up when I was feeling down. Daanish was someone who accepted you as you were, I never once felt I had to be someone else around him.”

    On Monday (Jun 8), the Day of National Remembrance for the Sabah earthquake victims, both Syafiq and Mysara attended Daanish’s burial at the Muslim Cemetery at Lim Chu Kang. The burial took place in the morning between the hours of 9am and 11am.

    “His father had a stoic look on his face,” said Charles Phang, a producer of INSIGHT, who filmed the video. “He definitely seemed as if he had accepted what had happened.”

    Daanish, an eldest child and graduate of Nanyang Polytechnic, had been working as a freelance adventure instructor for 2-3 years. According to his friends, he was passionate about the outdoors and leading people.

    For the full story on the Sabah Quake, don’t miss the special episode of INSIGHT: When the Earth Rumbles this Thursday (June 11), 8pm on Channel NewsAsia.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Indranee Rajah: Heroes Of Sabah Quake And Singaporeans’ Reactions A Reminder Of What It Means Be Part Of Singapore Family

    Indranee Rajah: Heroes Of Sabah Quake And Singaporeans’ Reactions A Reminder Of What It Means Be Part Of Singapore Family

    Being Singaporean

    On this National Day of Remembrance, it was brought home to me once again what it means to be Singaporean.

    This day was for us to remember those who died in the Sabah quake -Terrence (the teacher), Daanish (the adventure guide) and Peony, Ameer, Emilie, Matahom, Rachel and Sonia (the students), while we hope against hope for Mohammad Ghazi and Navdeep Singh who are still missing.

    At the SEA Games, we scored golds, including getting our first ever netball gold yesterday, and breaking the 50m freestyle record today.

    Happiness mingled with sadness.

    I visited Sonia’s wake today. I was touched by her family’s strength and fortitude. Her parents mourned her death but they also celebrated how much she achieved in her young life. They said to know her was to love her.

    In their grief, they generously remembered others, making it a point to tell Minister Heng Swee Keat and myself how much they appreciated the support from the principal and teachers of TKPS, as well as the MOE team in Sabah, with an especial word of thanks for DS Lim Boon Wee, and to the SAF for bringing them and Sonia home.

    Her mum said Sonia was an avid netball player. She played Wing Defence. She had attended the first few matches of our national netball team in the SEA Games to cheer them on before leaving for Sabah and was sorry that she was going to miss the netball final because of her trip.

    Her uncle told me that our national netballers came to see Sonia today. They came to show their support for family of the girl who had supported them. They gave Sonia the hexagonal light medallion from the SEA games pack, signed with their names – so she now has her own SEA games netball “medal”. Their thoughtful gesture and solidarity for Sonia meant a lot to the family.

    Also attended Terrence’s wake this evening. CNA reported a parent as saying that Terrence had “helped a bunch” before going back up again to help others. His selflessness saved others. His family can be proud of him, even as they mourn him. Friends, NS mates, ex-students, teacher colleagues, neighbours and relatives were all there to lend support the family.

    This reminded me anew what it means to be Singaporean – strength,courage, duty, kindness – and being there for each other, in joy or sorrow, good times and bad. This is what it is to be part of the Singapore family.

     

    Source: Indranee Rajah

  • Bodies Of Missing Tanjong Katong Primary Student And Teacher Found

    Bodies Of Missing Tanjong Katong Primary Student And Teacher Found

    The bodies of the remaining missing pupil and teacher from Tanjong Katong Primary School have been identified, said the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

    “We are saddened to inform that the Malaysian authorities have confirmed that Navdeep Singh Jaryal s/o Raj Kumar and Mohammad Ghazi Bin Mohamed are amongst the persons who perished at Kota Kinabalu,” said the statement.

    “Their next-of-kin have been informed. Their remains will return to Singapore upon completion of further forensic tests. This is expected to take some time. We will continue to provide support to the families during this difficult time.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com