Gearing Up for International Disaster-relief Collaborations

A big turnout to view the booths at Clark Airbase

500 civil defence personnel from 25 countries participated in the first ASEAN Regional Forum – Volunteer Display of Response (ARF-VDR) on Disaster Relief Exercise held in the Philippines from 4 to 8 May 2009. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) was glad to be one of the participating organisations other than forces from Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.  

The exercise scenario was a category-five level typhoon that caused widespread destruction, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands displaced. The exercise comprised five main components – the land, air, sea, medical and engineering components, at various provinces. 

A five-member SCDF team deployed a tentage to set up the SCDF operations base, equipped with communications workstations and a dry toilet, which allowed participants a glimpse into the SCDF operations at ground zero. Specialised Search and Rescue equipments, such as search cam, video scope and DELSAR were demonstrated during the exercise. The SCDF team also showcased the SCDF experiences in major overseas disaster relief operations under the codename Operations Lionheart, as well as missions conducted under the aegis of ASEAN and the United Nations.

SCDF's Major Ow Yong conducting a briefing to Mr Gilbert Teodoro, the Philippines Defence Secretary.

By the end of the exercise, the participants had gained a new understanding of their counterparts’ capabilities, and forged stronger ties, which bodes well for the combined operations during an actual mission.

 

 

The SCDF team with participants from China at Clark Airbase.

The original article was written by Warrant Officer  Md Hilmi bin Nasrom, Section Commander from SCDF’s Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) on Aug’09 issue of Rescue 995.