REMEMBERING HOTEL NEW WORLD

The collapse of the Hotel New World might have happened 26 years ago, but memories of the disaster still linger on and you can now relive them through a month-long exhibition starting 19 Jun and a series of talks held at the Ang Mo Kio Public Library.

Organised as part of the National Heritage Board's (NHB) Resilience through heritage series, the events will transport you back to the 15 Mar 1986 collapse of the six-storey building, then located at the junction of Serangoon and Owen roads, which claimed 33 lives.

"It came as a great shock that something like this could happen in peaceful Singapore," said Ms Joan Hon, 69, writer of the book Hotel New World Collapse.

When asked to describe the scene, she said: "It was so chaotic. There were so many people and government agencies, all putting in their best efforts to rescue those who were trapped in the rubble. The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) was there too, and their helicopter came and ferried those rescued to the hospitals."

Come 22 Jun, Ms Hon will recount how the community rallied to aid the victims of the collapse and share accounts from those involved, as part of the series of public talks.

"There was the sense that the whole nation was working together and I came away with the feeling that if something like that ever happened again, a support system would be there to take care of everyone," said Ms Hon, who will speak on 22 Jun as the first of the five speakers slated.

Those who turn up for the following talk will hear first-hand accounts of the disaster from Mr Ricky Goh, 58, a Red Cross volunteer involved in the rescue operations following the collapse.

"Nobody can say that such things won't ever happen and it's good for the younger generation of Singaporeans to be aware of this part of the nation's history," said Mr Goh, who will be sharing an artwork he created to remember the disaster. Titled Void, the picture depicting the collapsed hotel was painted with a typewriter and carries the names of the 33 who perished in the disaster.

"It's (the disaster) relevant today, and it really taught us to be ready to expect the unexpected," said Mr Goh, who spent a night at the disaster site aiding in rescue efforts as a member of the Red Cross.

The exhibition features items such as the report of inquiry into the collapse and rescue paraphernalia. Visitors will also be able to read about the events leading up to the collapse, the agencies involved in the rescue efforts and learn about the causes of the disaster.

The rescue efforts, which lasted five days, involved more than 500 personnel from the SAF, Singapore Civil Defence Force, the former Singapore Fire Service, Singapore Police Force and a team of foreign experts.

Several SAF doctors, led by then Chief Medical Officer Lieutenant Colonel (Dr) Lim Meng Kin and two other doctors from the Ministry of Health, took turns to crawl into tunnels to change intravenous drips, assess injuries and comfort trapped casualties, at the risk of being buried if the rescue tunnels collapsed.

The exhibition is open to the public till 19 Jul, and will travel to other locations such as public libraries, Community Centres and schools till the end of the year.

For more information, please visit the NHB website.