Singapore to set up center to study earthquakes

Asian Economic News, April 4, 2005

SINGAPORE, April 4 Kyodo

Singapore plans to set up its first center to study earthquake activity in Asia within a year in the wake of two major quakes that rocked Indonesia in recent months, and warnings from scientists of a possible third major temblor in the region, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said, the Straits Times reported Monday.

Officials from the country's Meteorological Services Division, which is part of the National Environment Agency, and state-run universities National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University met last month to discuss the idea, the Straits Times quoted him as saying at a community event Sunday.

The move is seen as an effort to be better prepared for future earthquakes amid dire forecasts by scientists recently that more disasters could hit the region.

An academic who has been closely involved with the discussions said the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunamis that hit Indonesia and other parts of Asia followed by the huge aftershock March 29 have raised concern about the impact on Singapore's infrastructure if a massive earthquake occurs nearer to the city state.

Singapore believes it has the resources and technological capability to conduct research in the field, but a National Environment Agency spokeswoman declined to provide more details about the center, saying it was still at a preliminary stage.

Tan reportedly said the recent earthquake off Sumatra was ''a very worrying matter.''

''We've had two major earthquakes and some analysts are predicting there'll be a third or even more coming along. It shows this is not a field we can neglect. There's a need for more studies to be made about seismic activity in this part of the world,'' Tan said.

Singapore is generally shielded from earthquakes by Indonesia's Sumatra Island, but it does get mild aftershocks during strong temblors in Indonesia.

Its seismic monitoring stations are able to detect strong earthquakes thousands of kilometers away and meteorological services officials said they were able to detect the March 29 quake even before warnings were released from Japan and Hawaii.