Daily Lessons from Life 15 November 2010 - At least 8 dead as fire engulfs Shanghai high-rise

"At least 8 dead as fire engulfs Shanghai high-rise - Mon, Nov 15, 2010 AFP

SHANGHAI, Nov 15, 2010 (AFP) - A huge fire engulfed a Shanghai high-rise building on Monday, killing at least eight people, wounding more than 90 and sending plumes of thick black smoke billowing across the city.

The 28-storey building in one of the most densely-populated districts of China's biggest city and commercial hub was under renovation when the blaze broke out around 2 pm (0600 GMT).

The death toll was announced by local authorities at a news conference."

I dread to think what would happened if I were trapped in one of this situations! I never did like living in the high rise though I can tolerate it. I wondered how fast the fire spread and how life can be changed in a few minutes!

Lessons for me are:

1. be ready for the most unexpected. People living in high rise really do not think too much about high rise fire! In Taiwan, high rise buildings are required to equip themselves with fast escape-tube like instrument in case there is a need for them to get away. I don't think this type of requirement is in Singapore or PRC yet;

2. fire drill on what to do in a fire should be practiced and made mandatory so that people have a chance to at least know what to do and practice doing the evacuation processes. This will not get too much attention as human being is good at justifying why one should not do the essential when a crisis is not present!;

3. high rise fire is very dangerous. It is likely that the death tool in this case will go up and even 1 lost life is too many!

Human being simply has to live with the risk of living in a modern high rise environment. Emergency drill and preparedness are simply trying to get the best conclusion in the worst situation!!