Power failure...

The office has gone silent. Phones stopped ringing, copiers not churning papers and the most important tool - the computer is not even switched on. A power failure has hit Southpoint and the office has stopped working completely with everyone out for early lunch.

From the 11th floor, it can be quite a challenge to walk down those narrow flight of stairs thus I decided to skip lunch and just stay in to enjoy the few moments of peace and quietness.

A firemen's lift is situated at the back of the building but that too is not working. Wonder what the firemen's lift is really for. I kind of thought it was the only 'special' lift that works in times of emergency, for easy access during fire fighting etc. Perhaps, like many other things, I assumed it wrong.

It is kind of scary to know the importance of something we take for granted so often - electricity. We seem so crippled without electricity as we are unable to send mails and carry on with our daily work. Even the IP phones have gone dead. A massive impact on business operations. Am just wondering what has happened to our call centre. Is it still working or has the whole customer service group walked out for early lunch?

Angry customers might just hear ' the number you are calling is unreachable, please try again later.' Thankfully for my Dopod, I am still reachable and somewhat still connected with the virtual world of internet. I cannot imagine if during some major destruction of our telecommunications system, we will be completely disconnected from the world.

Chaos will erupt and the stock market will crash drastically, sending millionaires to bankrupts in minutes. Scary thought isn't it? Reminds me of the move Die Hard 4, where some terrorist network decided to attack on the transport, telecommunications infrastructure.

Its been an hour without power and am feeling suffocated with no air to breathe. Air condition is down, windows unable to open. What if this was a true emergency? Would Singapore be prepared? Perhaps yes. The government must have prepared for crisis like such and should it happen, panic is surely the last reaction Singaporeans should have. Stay calm, that's what is important.

Let's see how long this power failure would last and it would be interesting to find out how our business units reacted with the lack of something so important like electricity.