Thick Hide Farm New World

1986 structure disaster in Singapore

Collapse of Hotel New Globe
General data
Engagement	15 March 1986; 36 years ago (1986-03-15)
Time	eleven:25 am
Location	Rochor, Singapore
Cause	Construction error
Deaths	33
Non-fatal injuries	17
Building details
Lian Yak Building

Old names	New Serangoon Hotel
Alternative names	Hotel New World
Status	Collapsed
Location	Rochor
State	Singapore
Coordinates	Coordinates: 1°18′42″N 103°51′18″E / 1.311784°N 103.854879°Eastward / 1.311784; 103.854879
Opened	1971; 51 years ago (1971)
Destroyed	March 15, 1986; 36 years ago (1986-03-xv)
Client	Industrial and Commercial Depository financial institution Express Hotel New World
Owner	Ng Khong Lim
Affiliation	Lian Yak Realty
Technical details
Flooring count	6
Other information
Number of rooms	67
Number of restaurants	1

The plummet of the Hotel New World was a civil disaster that occurred in Singapore on 15 March 1986.^[1] The Hotel New World was a six-storey building situated at the junction of Serangoon Route and Owen Road in the Rochor district when it suddenly collapsed, trapping 50 people beneath the rubble.^[2] Seventeen people were rescued and 33 people died.^[three]

Groundwork [edit]

Hotel New Earth, officially called the Lian Yak Edifice (Chinese: 联益大厦),^[4] was completed in 1971 and consisted of six storeys and a basement garage.^[2] The Hotel New World, previously known as the New Serangoon Hotel until 1984, was the master tenant occupying the top four floors,^[5] and a branch of the Industrial & Commercial Bank (which merged with United Overseas Bank in 1987) took up the ground level.

A nightclub, Universal Neptune Nite-Club and Restaurant, was situated on the 2nd level of the building at the time of the collapse.^{[half dozen]} The edifice had previously experienced a poisonous gas leak (acquired by carbon monoxide) in some of the hotel rooms, outset striking the headlines on xxx August 1975, the mean solar day after the poisonous gas leak was reported.^[7]

Plummet [edit]

On fifteen March 1986, the building apace collapsed in less than a minute at near 11:25 am, leaving little time for anyone to make their escape. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion prior to the collapse, simply the police ruled out the possibility of a flop attack.^[8] A gas explosion was thought to be a possible cause.^[viii]

The collapse was met with shock by many, including the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who was quoted every bit saying that "the plummet of such a building is unprecedented."^[ix]

Casualties [edit]

Immediately later the collapse, as many as 300 were feared trapped underneath the debris.^[10] Estimates dropped to 100 trapped or missing a day after,^[eleven] and then to sixty, including 26 hotel staff and sixteen banking concern staff unaccounted for.^[ix] The figure was finally put at 33 when the official decease toll was announced on 22 March 1986 afterward the end of the rescue effort.^[3] Amidst those killed, 23 were Singaporeans, and the other ten foreigners.

Rescue [edit]

Afterwards the collapse, many passers-by began to try pulling out survivors. They were soon joined by the Singapore Fire Service (SFS), the Constabulary Task Force of the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). A nearby business, Eagle Pianoforte Visitor, became a centre for the rescue operation.

Every bit there were survivors buried in the rubble, the rescue was a delicate functioning. Debris was carefully removed as power saws and drills cutting through the rubble. Sound detectors were used to locate survivors beneath the slabs by picking up faint moans and cries. In the first 12 hours, ix people were rescued past the SAF. At in one case, Lieutenant-Colonel Lim Meng Kin (SAF Chief Medical Officer), along with several other SAF medical officers and two doctors from the Wellness Ministry building, took turns crawling through narrow spaces within the rubble in an effort to provide aid to trapped survivors, giving glucose and saline drips to them.

Local tunnelling experts as well as those from Japan, Ireland and the United Kingdom who were involved in nearby construction for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), namely Thomas Gallagher, Patrick Gallagher, Michael Prendergast, Michael Scott, and Tan Jin Thong, offered to assist.^[12] They became concerned that the utilize of heavy mechanism might collapse the rubble onto those trapped. Their volunteer efforts, digging four tunnels under the rubble, resulted in the rescue of another eight survivors. The tunnelling experts were later honoured past the Singapore government for their efforts.

The last survivor, 30-year-sometime Chua Kim Choo, was rescued on eighteen March 1986, having survived after hiding beneath a table.^[13] Following the half-dozen-24-hour interval rescue operation that ended on 21 March, 17 people were rescued, 33 died.

Outcome [edit]

Inquiry [edit]

Many potential causes of the blow were investigated. Surviving sections of concrete were tested to ensure they were built to proper construction standards and it was institute that they were. The undergoing construction work at the same time of the cloak-and-dagger railway – built by tunnellers who had assisted in the rescue – was investigated, even though the excavations were more than 100 yards (91 m) from the collapsed edifice. Information technology was institute they had no effect on the edifice's stability.

Too investigated were the diverse additions made to the building later its initial construction. Air conditioning systems had been constructed on the roof of the building, the banking concern had added a large condom, and ceramic tiles had been fixed to the building'south exterior, all adding considerably to the edifice's weight. It was found that the weight of these additions was inconsequential: the original structural engineer had made an error in computing the building's structural load. The structural engineer had calculated the building's alive load (the weight of the building's potential inhabitants, furniture, fixtures, and fittings) only the building'due south expressionless load (the weight of the edifice itself) was completely omitted from the calculation. This meant that the edifice as constructed could non support its own weight. Iii different supporting columns had failed in the days before the disaster, the other columns—which took on the added weight no longer supported by the failed columns—could not support the building.^[14]

According to the local Aqueduct News Asia (CNA), Lian Yak Building was designed past an unqualified draftsman instead of a professional person structural engineer. An investigator found that he had over-estimated the expressionless weight which the columns and walls could back up. The draftsman claimed that the building owner Ng Khong Lim, who eventually died in the collapse incident, had appointed him to design Lian Yak Building but Ng directed that edifice piece of work. The investigator likewise found that Ng requested to use inferior materials to build Lian Yak Edifice in club to reduce the price – ultimately costing his life.^[15] ^[sixteen]

Aftermath [edit]

On 27 Apr 1986, the Government of Singapore honoured v individuals for their assistance in rescue efforts, including three from Republic of ireland, 1 from the U.k. and a local Singaporean.^[17] A dinner was besides hosted by the Singapore government on 29 April 1986 for public transport operator SMRT Corporation staff involved in the rescue efforts, with Minister of Communications and Information, Yeo Ning Hong, as the guest of honour.

Post-obit this disaster, all buildings congenital in the 1970s in Singapore were thoroughly checked for structural faults, with some of them declared structurally unsound and evacuated for demolition, including the chief block of Hwa Chong Inferior College and Catholic High School campus at Queen Street.^[xviii]

The government besides introduced tighter and stringent regulations on building construction; since 1989, all structural designs are required to exist counter-checked by multiple Accredited Checkers.^[xix] The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) also underwent a significant upgrade, in terms of training and equipment, to amend its readiness in performing futurity possible circuitous rescue operations.

Site [edit]

Five years later the collapse, structure piece of work commenced on the site for a new vii-story hotel on 28 March 1991. The Fortuna Hotel opened with 85 rooms in 1994.^[20]

In media [edit]

In July 1986, Singaporean singer-songwriter Kelvin Tan contributed to BigO magazine's Nothing on the Radio cassette the song "Seen the End", after spending 2 nights at the former Hotel New Earth site.^[21]

In 1990, the disaster was re-enacted in the Chinese-language goggle box series Finishing Line (出人头地), which was aired on SBC 8.

On 25 September 2003, the disaster was featured in the first episode of the second season of the television series True Courage, which was broadcast on English-language MediaCorp Telly Channel v. A Chinese-language version of the serial, titled True Backbone (逆境勇者), was also on aired on MediaCorp TV Channel 8.

On 27 September 2005, Seconds From Disaster portrayed the disaster in the episode Hotel Collapse Singapore. Instead of the actual site, the programme used an image of the surface area around 88 Syed Alwi Road (at the corner of Kampong Kapor Road) as the basis for a computer-generated reconstruction of the building and its collapse. The episode was retelecast in Singapore on 16 September 2007 via StarHub TV.

In February 2015, Days of Disasters also portrayed the disaster in the episode Hotel New World Collapse.^[22] It was too featured in the drama The Journey: Our Homeland.^[23]

References [edit]

^ Allen Yu-Hung LAI; Seck L. TAN (Baronial 2013). Impact of Disasters and Disaster Risk Management in Singapore: A Case Study of Singapore's Feel in Fighting the SARS Epidemic (PDF) (Technical report). ERIA Discussion Paper Serial. Economic Research Plant for ASEAN and East asia (ERIA). Table 1. ERIA-DP-2013-14. Archived (PDF) from the original on fourteen July 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^ ^a ^b Report of the Enquiry into the Collapse of Hotel New World, Singapore: Printed for the Government of Singapore by Singapore National Printers, 1987, OCLC 24545169 (Volume launch website for: Tommy Koh, ed. (2006). Singapore, the encyclopedia. Editions Didier Millet. ISBN978-981-4155-63-2. )
^ ^a ^b "Singapore Toll Put at 33". The New York Times. 22 March 1986. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved iv May 2010.
^ RESILIENCE THROUGH HERITAGE I : HOTEL NEW Earth (PDF). National Heritage Board. p. four.
^ Seventh written report of the commission: for the two years ending July 1987 (PDF) (Technical written report). Standing Committee on Structural Condom. September 1987. p. 13.
^ 《劫后"新"生》第4集- 新世界酒店倒塌, 新傳媒私人有限公司], 2015
^ "Gas Ieak made news 10 years agone (Championship adapted due to improper transcription past OCR)". 16 March 1986. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
^ ^a ^b Philip Lee (sixteen March 1986). "100 still trapped". The Sun Times. Archived from the original on sixteen August 2007.
^ ^a ^b Crossette, Barbara (17 March 1986). "Later on 36 Hours, 2 Are Rescued From The Ruins in Singapore". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
^ "300 Trapped as Hotel in Singapore Topples". The New York Times. 15 March 1986. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved four May 2010.
^ "6-Story Hotel Collapses in Singapore; 100 Trapped". The New York Times. 16 March 1986. Retrieved 4 May 2010. ^{[ permanent expressionless link ]}
^ "Singapore Honors Rescuers". The New York Times. 27 April 1986. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016. Retrieved half-dozen February 2017.
^ "Around THE World; Singapore Woman Saved Later 3 Days in Rubble". The New York Times. 19 March 1986. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
^ "Hotel Collapse Singapore". Seconds from disaster. Season 2. Episode 9. 27 September 2005. National Geographic Aqueduct. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
^ "Hotel New Earth Collapse". Days of Disaster. Archived from the original on 27 Feb 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
^ Zaobao, Lianhe (nineteen September 1986). "为节省成本黄康霖修改混凝土成分比例" (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 11 Jan 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Singapore Honors Rescuers". The New York Times. 27 April 1986. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved four May 2010.
^ "星期二特写 - 《钟声响起时》第6 集 - 双轨火车". video.toggle.sg. 21 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
^ "Update on the Collapse of Roof of School Hall Under Construction at Compassvale Street" (PDF). Building and Structure Authority. 26 June 1999. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 21 Oct 2007.
^ Goh Chin Lian (15 March 2004). "A new world now later on hotel collapse" (PDF). The Straits Times. ^{[ dead link ]}
^ "Sounds like Nothing on the Radio". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. 4 July 1986. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
^ "Hotel New Earth Collapse Video (Channel NewsAsia)". MediaCorp Pte Ltd. Aqueduct NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
^ "The Journeying: Our Homeland 信约：我们的家园". Mediacorp . Retrieved 20 June 2022.

External links [edit]

"SAF Medical Services: Hotel New World 1986". Ministry of Defence (Singapore). Archived from the original on 18 November 2006.
"Local Major Incidents: Collapse of Hotel New World". Singapore Civil Defence force Strength. half-dozen November 2006. Archived from the original on 15 Jan 2007.
"Singapore Infopedia: Hotel New Earth plummet". Singapore: National Library Board. 2002. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006.