On the 20th of June (Thursday), the Ministry of Health gave the assurance that there is sufficient stock of N95 masks to meet anticipated needs, and that large retail and pharmacy chains like Guardian, Unity, Cold Storage and Giant will have fresh stock of the masks on their shelves by that evening (link: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/the-haze-singapore/story/there-sufficient-stock-n95-masks-health-ministry-20130620). But at noontime on 21 June 2013 (Friday), when the PSI reached 401, the N95 masks were still out of stock in many pharmacies (link: http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/the-haze-singapore/story/singapore-haze-update-psi-401-noon-many-pharmacies-still-out-).
The masks were only distributed to the People's Association (PA) and various PA Constituency Offices on Saturday afternoon (link: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/saf-distributes-masks-to/720774.html). As masks were unavailable for the general public on Friday despite government assurances on Thursday that it will be available that evening in large retail pharmacy chains, is it reasonable for people to make such assumptions? By the time the masks were rolled out to the general public on 23 June 2013 (Sunday), the haze was no longer a problem (at least temporarily).
I will wait for the Hansard report to have confirmation of this, but one member of Parliament mentioned in the House today that the N95 masks were stockpiled in the Ministry of Health not for distribution to the general public, but for use by health care workers in case of a spread of viral pandemic like MERS (Middle East virus) and H7N9.
What I had done is not unque, many from the online community had done the same as well. When N95 masks were not available and when no stop- work orders were issued, these had voluntarily reached out to those that might be most affected by the haze, and did whatever little they could. See this for example: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4352057618832&set=pb.1809408842.-2207520000.1373290722.&type=3&theater, and also this: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/people-far-more-efficient-than-govt-acting-against-haze-4267177.html.
Even if the Government initially seemed ill-prepared to tackle the problem of haze, it is good that they have now come out to put forth more information, which has certainly calmed general public as they now better know how to handle such crisis. Bloggers can only comment on what they know, so, instead of pointing fingers, perhaps, the government should engage the blogging community more to disseminate some of these information, especially in a crisis, to the general public.