National Earthquake Challenge 2010

Rumble and tumble!! That is what usually occurs in earthquake-prone countries when the deadly catastrophe strikes. In Singapore, we are blessed in that we almost never experience earthquakes, and even if we do, it is of a small scale. However, it is always good for Singapore students to know more about earthquakes, so that students would get a feel of how people adapt to the disaster.

To this end, Singapore Polytechnic has been organizing the National Earthquake Challenge, and this year, Henderson Secondary School sent in 8 teams to participate. The teams comprise students not only from DNI but also non-DNI students. The teams worked their hearts out during the 2 months that we had before the competition starts, designing structures after structures that could withstand vigorous vibrations. It was a joy and thrill watching the kids work, as they shuttle between the glue gun, the drill, the workshop etc. There was healthy and stimulating discussion all the time, as teams worked together to come up with innovative and strong designs.

On the days of the competition, we brought all our structures down to Singapore Polytechnic and tested them on a large platform that can stimulate 2-dimensional vibrations. Even after many rounds of grueling testings, we had to wait for all the other schools to finish their testings before we could know the results.

On the day that we got to know of the results, we were elated! All our teams obtained some prize! We have 6 teams in the top 10 places, which includes the 1st runner-up. This means that we are sponsored for our trip to Taiwan in September for the IDEERS competition, a national version of the earthquake competition.

Well done folks! We're proud of DNI!