Singapore

Introduction

Singapore is exposed to occasional floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves, and also has some risk of exposure to earthquakes or tsunamis. Although Singapore is located in Southeast Asia, a region generally known to be highly hazard-prone, its overall disaster level is low and the country has been relatively sheltered from the impact of major disaster events (Lin et al., 2021[1]). The WorldRiskReport estimates that Singapore faces little disaster risk.

The hazardscape

Singapore has not suffered any major disaster impacts in recent decades, yet impactful disaster events can occur. A few severe flood events were recorded in the second half of the 20^th century. Since 1950, at least three flood events, two drought events, and three haze events occurred (Lin et al., 2021[1]). Floods in 1969 left up to 75% of Singapore inundated, killed five people, rendered 3 100 people homeless and led to more than SGD 4 million (Singapore dollars) in damage. A flood event in 1978 killed seven people, generated numerous landslides and led to SGD 10 million in damage (Kennedy, 2015[2]). Post-1970s improvements in urban planning, including the construction of drainage systems and implementation of other flood prevention measures in flood-prone and low-lying areas, led to a 95% reduction in areas identified as flood prone (Tortajada and Joshi, 2013[3]). Despite these improvements, both coastal and inland flooding remain a risk, especially given changing precipitation patterns and an observed increase in the frequency of flash floods in the last 30 years (Chow, 2017[4]). Between 2000 and 2015, floods damaged about 550 homes and led to about USD 24 million in damage but caused no fatalities (Kennedy, 2015[2]). Notably, localised floods in the Orchard Road shopping district in June 2010 led to USD 17 million in insurance claims (Chow, 2017[4]).

Singapore can also experience drought, and episodes have become more frequent (Chow, 2017[4]; Chuah, Ho and Chow, 2018[5]). While Singapore significantly increased its drought resilience through implementation of water management practices, including water retention and desalination facilities as well as water recycling, it ranks among the most water-stressed countries in the world (Chuah, Ho and Chow, 2018[5]; Luo, Young and Reig, 2015[6]). Droughts are thus among the key disaster-related concerns due to their potential to reduce water supply for private consumption, and thus affect all residents, as well as water-dependent industrial and commercial activities (Biswas, 2012[7]).

Climate change perspective

Climate change is expected to affect the disaster risks faced by Singapore via increasing temperatures, increased precipitation during the wet months, decreased precipitation during the dry months, possible increases in wind speed during the northeast monsoon and rising sea levels. These climatic changes will exacerbate the flood, drought, storm and heatwave hazards (NCCS, n.d.[8]; Chow, 2017[4]). Regarding sea level rise, almost one-third of the country is situated less than five metres above sea level, resulting in large areas exposed to coastal flooding as well as the risk of future permanent inundation (Cannaby et al., 2016[9]; NCCS, n.d.[8]). Singapore is also highly vulnerable to potential effects of climate change abroad in the form disruptions in water and food availability, given that the country imports approximately 60% of its water and more than 90% of its food (SFA, 2020[10]; Chuah, Ho and Chow, 2018[5]).

Challenges for disaster risk management policy

While Singapore’s disaster risk management policy is relatively well established, various disaster risk management-related challenges remain. They include the lack of a comprehensive disaster risk information database, the limited dedicated disaster fund, the need to establish robust mechanisms to ensure long-term food and water security, and the need to increase disaster awareness among the public. Importantly, as disaster risk management and development planning still appear to be treated as separate issues, better integration of disaster risk management concerns within planning could improve the country’s disaster risk management efforts. Emphasis should also be placed on increasing community-level risk awareness and collaboration with the private sector as regards developing disaster risk reduction solutions (UNDRR, 2020[11]). Stronger private-public partnerships should be promoted to mobilise the resources of non-state actors and incentivise businesses and civil society organisations to support awareness-raising programmes and disaster risk reduction efforts in general (Ha and Jamil, 2014[12]). As regards flood risk management, challenges include resolving jurisdictional ambiguities, for example in the management of coastal versus inland floods, where the remit of the Building and Construction Authority includes Singapore’s coastal protection, but flood control responsibility, including coastal flooding, typically falls under the purview of the Public Utilities Board (Chan et al., 2018[13]).