The seniors silently enduring chronic heat at home during this haze season
Singapore’s cooling centres may help during heatwaves, but some elderly folk face heat every day at home.
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Members of the public queueing up to collect masks at Punggol 21 Community Club. The worsening haze makes life harder for seniors trapped in stuffy homes who are forced to shut windows to keep out the toxic air.
ST PHOTO: ZHAKI ABDULLAH
Zahirah Suhaimi
Ming, 86, lives on a high floor of a rental block, where she would normally enjoy some breeze. The trouble is that her flatmate often keeps the windows shut and the fan off, and Ming is afraid to complain.
“I don’t use the fan for weeks,” said Ming. “If I feel a little breeze from the side, I feel okay. Now the weather is too warm. Sometimes when my flatmate is not around, I ventilate the house and hope she doesn’t see.”