Global Outlook

With all the flood, landslides, who is at fault? Some would say it is Nature's will or God's will. Probably but also coupled with our inability to be able to anticipate the future. The tunnel's flood was because there was no power to pump the water out but at the same time, the water entered through from the water tunnel that was supposed to take the water out. Even had the pumps had worked, it wouldn't be able to pump the water out straight away as the pipes were underwater as well as the nearby river had overflown its banks.

This is the third time that the tunnel had flooded, each time forcing a redesign of the pipes taking the water out. It seemed that the river level is going higher and higher every year. What the engineers used to call a one in fifty event is happening almost every year. We put it down to many things. This year's heavy rains is said to be due to the La Nina effect.

But I am worried that we are underestimating the sea level rise. We have not taken into account the global rising water level. Reports say that it is rising 3 mm per year, but from what level and since when? The last ice age caused water level to rise 130 meters when all the ice caps melted. When I read reports that more ice shelves are breaking off in the antartic, it can be quite scary. Global warming is something every one in the world ought to be worried about. Remember, a rise of a few meters is enough to put Bandar Seri Begawan and its immediate outlying area permanently under water, let alone what 130 meters can do. And the global level has been rising 3 mm a year for the last decade...