Suharto (1921 to 2008). Former Indonesian dictator Haji Muhammad Suharto — the “smiling general” who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades — died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86.
Former Indonesian President Suharto dies at 86
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Former Indonesian dictator Haji Muhammad Suharto — the “smiling general” who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades — died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86.
He was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on January 4 for treatment of a failing liver, heart and lungs, his doctors said.
He had been suffering at home for five days.
His death comes just a day after his doctors said he appeared to be making a remarkable recovery.
Suharto, who, like other Indonesians, only has one name, was president of Indonesia from 1967 until he was forced to resign — under immense political pressure — in 1998.
He is credited with shaping modern Indonesia by boosting the economy and making the sprawling archipelago a regional power.
However, he also reigned as the nation was beset by internal corruption and, at the end of his rule, economic decline.
“He was known as the smiling general. He could be very charming, but behind that smile was this streak of steel,” said Richard Woolcott, Australia’s former ambassador to Indonesia.
“In the short term, he’ll probably be judged fairly harshly by Australian critics and others in the West, but in the longer term, I suspect historians will see his contributions to Indonesia in a very positive light,” Woolcott told CNN.
Source: CNN
Yesterday there were some tremors felt in Singapore. Some people even evacuted due to tremors. It’s better to be safe than to be sorry I guess. But if you’re really afraid of your building collapsing, it may be a good idea to just hide under your table and not run outside where the building would probably collaspe on you anyway. Singapore buildings can withstand quake-induced tremors (source).
BCA flooded with calls from public after tremors
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) was flooded with calls from concerned public who felt two rounds of tremors following two earthquakes on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
Many wanted to know if buildings in Singapore were safe and whether they could cushion the impact of such shocks.
BCA said it received over 350 calls from both building owners and HDB flat dwellers.
BCA said it would inspect all 154 private buildings and 197 HDB blocks which experienced the tremors.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia
Maybe in future we may have tremor drills. I think it would be interesting to see how it goes. When I first saw a picture of a Japanese kid hiding under the table during an earthquake, I was a little amused. Our school syllabus doesn’t cover what to do in an event of a tremor. If we don’t at least discuss about it in school or workplace, we would once again be panicking over a tremor.
I felt tremors in Bukit Batok!
I was sitting comfortably on my chair when it started to vibrate a little. It thought the Gundam robots are here. My elephant behaved differently too, it used to be balanced on my round CD compartment, it sort of fell onto the ground. I heard that there is an earthquake in Sumatra or something. The tremors stopped already of course.
Tremors felt around Singapore, some buildings evacuated
Singapore’s Meteorological Services Division says an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale struck Padang, Indonesia at about 11.50am Tuesday.
The epicentre was 50 kilometres north-northeast of Padang, on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia and some 430 kilometres south-west of Singapore.
Tremors were also felt in many parts of Singapore.
Callers to the MediaCorp News Hotline said they felt tremors in areas such as Beach Road, Jalan Besar, Robinson Road and Toa Payoh.
Some buildings, like the Concourse at Beach Road, Capital Square and Centennial Tower in the city, and even Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Clementi, were evacuated.
Witnesses said several tall buildings in the central business district swayed slightly.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia
Okay, they can add that it was felt in Bukit Batok too. I felt it when sitting on the office chair, I happen to be sitting crosslegged watching an anime. Have you felt it too?
296 reported dead in 8.7 quake near Indonesia
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - A major earthquake struck late Monday off the west coast of Indonesia, and a local government official said 296 people were killed in collapsed buildings. Thousands panicked in countries across the Indian Ocean as tsunami warnings were posted.
(Earthquake in Indonesia.)
The quake collapsed about 70 percent of houses and buildings in the town of Gunungsitoli, said police Sgt. Zulkifli Sirait.
The only tsunami reported within four hours was a tiny one - less than 4 inches - at the Cocos Islands, 1,400 miles west of Australia, meteorologists in Sydney said.
The Dec. 26 quake triggered a huge tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean at the speed of a passenger jet. More than 1.5 million people were left homeless in 11 countries.
Source: MSNBC
This occured when a day after I say that Singapore has no earthquake, the earth seems to be agreeing and adding that there could be tremors instead. Check out Mr. Brown’s for more information. Singapore is affected in areas like Punggol and Seng Kang. I don’t think anyone is hurt. I am not affected and is continuing debugging a Visual Basic .NET program and have absolutely no idea such an event occured.
I’m sitting in Singapore, unaffected by the tsunami. Jason didn’t even know the tsunami hit Maldives. I never thought a tsunami would be that bad. As I watch MSNBC.com, BBC, Streats and Today reporting death tolls climbing and climbing. It’s scary, isn’t it?
I just don’t know the power of tsunamis, it just killed so many people. I thought it would be a thousand deaths when I saw the news on MediaCorp for the first time. It just goes higher and higher. And now, it appears MSNBC.com has estimated the toll to be near 60,000. I am not clear what toll they are refering too. Earlier, I read Streats (SPH free tabloid) and they reported 40,000 death tolls.
Who would have expected water to kill so many. It’s always earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes that get all the ‘limelight’. My girlfriend’s family were at Penang but they weren’t affected. William was at Bangkok and wasn’t affected too. As for Jonathan, well, he’s at the states and the tsunami lost its way while attempting to travel there. And Han Bei is in Canada, probably playing some strategy game without being aware that there’s such a place called ‘Maldives’.
Shawn must have been upset. He would have thought twice when getting married. His initial plans of getting married the Maldives may not come true for safety reasons.
Disease fears rise as tsunami toll nears 60,000
The number of dead continued to climb rapidly as authorities in Indonesia added 8,000 fatalities to the death toll there, bringing the total number killed to 27,178. The Health Ministry said in a statement that the figure did not yet include reports from the hard-hit west coast of Sumatra, where 10,000 residents of the the town of Meulaboh were earlier reported to have died. (more…)
Oh boy, I knew these hobbits from Lord of the Rings existed. And if you’re thinking hobbits are from the European countries, it may be closer to you than you expect. It’s just in my neighboring country. (more…)