REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORECOUNTRY REPORT ON DISASTER REDUCTION MEASURESCONTENTS
1. AIM *2. INTRODUCTION *3. MAIN CONSIDERATIONS *4. EMERGENCY AUTHORITIES *5. LEGISLATION *6. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS MEASURES *7. DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCIES *8. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION *9. CONCLUSION *1. AIMThis report provides an overview of the Preparedness programme and activities undertaken by Singapore to prevent andmanage disasters.

2. INTRODUCTION
The Republic of Singapore is a small island City State with a land area of about 600 square kilometres with a multi-racial
population of about 2.9 million people. More than 80 percent of its population lives in about 4,700 high-rise apartmentbuildings in public housing estates. The republic also has hundreds of high-rise commercial buildings, some reaching a heightof over 280 metres, mostly in its central business district.

Geographically, Singapore is just outside the ‘pacific Rim of Fire’and is thus spared from the ravages and destruction caused
by natural phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The republic nevertheless has from time to time,
experienced some localised man-made disasters and major accidents, which also had painful and tragic consequences.

3. MAIN CONSIDERATIONSThe Emergency Preparedness Programmes and Disaster Management activities undertaken by Singapore are based on thefollowing main principles:a. Man-made disasters can be prevented, and theirof stringent and comprehensive government
with strict enforcement.

tragic consequences, minimised through a set
regulation on fire and building safety, coupledb. Emergency and contingency plans should bedeveloped to deal with disaster should they occur.
Such plans should also be tested and fine hone through regular exercises and drills.

c. The community should be educated on the need for and importance of emergency preparedness.
Where possible, they should also be involved in exercises, training and physical preparations.

d. Emergency response and management of disasters should be a co-ordinated multi-agency effort.

All available expertise and resources should be co-ordinated and swiftly channelled to the disastersite to maximise the chances of survival of the injured and to minimise damage to infrastructure.

e. Restoration work and the rehabilitation of the injured should be an integral part of the total
disaster management programme.

4. EMERGENCY AUTHORITIESThe Ministry of Home Affairs is the principle policy and directing authority responsible for civil defence emergency
preparedness and disaster management. Under its command are two emergency agencies - the Singapore Civil Defence Forceand the Singapore Police Force which are responsible for planning, co-ordination and implementation of the various
programmes and activities. Several other Ministries, Statutory Boards and government departments are also involved insupporting roles (e.g.
the Ministry of Health).

5. LEGISLATION
Singapore’s Emergency Preparedness Programme and disaster management activities are supported by various laws. The
main laws in this context are:a. CIVIL DEFENCE ACT 1986
This Act provides the legal framework for, amongst other things, the declaration of a state ofemergency and the deployment of operationally ready national service rescuers to support theSCDF.

b. FIRE SAFETY ACT 1993
This Act provides the legal framework to impose fire safety requirements on commercial andindustrial premises as well as the involvement of the management and owners of such premises inemergency preparedness against fires.

c. CIVIL DEFENCE SHELTER ACT 1997
This Act provides a legal framework to require all new houses and flats and suitable buildings
owned by statutory boards to be provided with civil defence shelters and to designate any part ofany building as civil defence shelters for use by persons needing to take refuge therein during astate of emergency, and to regulate the use of civil defence shelters.

6. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS MEASURES
Singapore’s Emergency Preparedness programme for major disasters comprised the following main elements:

a. Plans
A multi-agency approach, co-ordinated by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, was adopted for thedevelopment of emergency or contingency plans covering the following types of disasters:(1) Fires in high-rise commercial and residential buildings(2) Fires in petro-chemical installations and oil refineries(3) Release and spread of hazardous and toxic materials(4) Collapse of buildings and other major structures(5) Accidents involving land, air, sea and rail transport.

b. Drills and Exercises
To ensure that the contingency plans are comprehensive and effective, drills and exercises are
conducted by the various emergency authorities. Such exercises and drills also involve the owners
and occupants of the building premises as well as the general public. An example is the weekly
Monday Morning Fire Exercise conducted by the Singapore Civil Defence Force for various
commercial high-rise buildings. In addition, the Singapore Civil Defence Force also conducts regulartraining exercises to hone the operational readiness and capability of the emergency response
personnel.

c. Public Awareness, Education & Participation(1) An effective emergency preparedness programme should involve the population. Since
its inception in 1982, the Singapore Civil Defence Force has been implementing
community relations programmes for emergency preparedness. The public is regularly
kept informed and reminded on the need for and importance of emergency preparedness
through various communications tools e.g. news and press advertisements, posters,leaflets etc. The underlying message to the public is “Readiness is your only protection”(2) Public education programmes covering fire prevention and safety, evacuation, rescue,
first aid, etc. have been developed for different target groups. These target groups include
children, housewives, senior citizens, schools, factories and commercial premises. The
long-term goal is to have at least one person in each household to be educated or trainedin emergency preparedness.

(3) An extensive community and grassroots network has also been established by theSingapore Civil Defence Force to promote civil defence and involve the population inemergency preparedness activities, especially exercises, (e.g. rescue, water rationing andblood collecting exercises).

7. DISASTER MANAGEMENT AGENCIESThe following is an overview of the disaster management
measures instituted in Singapore:a. Main Agencies(1) The Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police Force are the main
agencies under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for on-site
Disaster Management. The Singapore Civil Defence Force is responsible for the conductof fire fighting and rescue operations at the disaster site and the transportation ofvictims to hospitals for medical treatment. The Singapore Police Force is responsible forthe security, investigation and traffic management as well as co-ordination matters.

(2) With a strength of about 100,000 personnel comprising 65,000 Operationally Ready
National Servicemen (Reservists) and full-time National Servicemen, 43,000 volunteers
and a core of about 1,500 regular officers and men, the Singapore Civil Defence Force
responds to all types of emergencies round-the-clock. Over the last few years, theSingapore Civil Defence Forces responded to an average of 13,500 emergency fire andrescue, and 60,000 ambulance calls. Major Incidents that the Singapore Civil Defence
Force had responded to in the last 2 years included the fires involving tyres warehouseand chemical factory.

(3) Organised with a 3-tier structure, Singapore Civil Defence Force Headquarters
command and control four territorial Divisional Headquarters, which in turn manage thefire stations and other ground units (please see Annex A). The fire stations will provide
the first response. Depending on the scale and nature of the disaster, the fire stations aresupported by the Rescue Battalions, the Division Headquarters and Singapore Civil
Defence Force Headquarters. . Its mobile rescue units, such as the Immediate Response
Units and Rescue Battalions can be swiftly mobilised(4) The Singapore Civil Defence Force also has an elite rescue team, DART, which stands
for the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, to carry out complex and difficult rescue
operations, including tunnelling, Mass Rapid Transport rescue and high-rise rescue.
DART is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, such as the robots, Search Cameras,
Fibre-Optical scope, Thermal Imaging Camera, Trapped Person Locator, as well as
rescue dogs.

b. Supporting agencies

In the management of disasters, the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police Forceare supported by other government agencies, viz. the following:(1) The Ministry of Health, which is responsible for medical treatment of the injured; andphysical and psychological rehabilitation of victims.
(2) The Ministry of Community Development, which is responsible for management of
the homeless in relief centres.
(3) The Ministry of Information and The Arts, which is responsible for media relations
and public information.
(4) The Ministry of Environment, which is responsible for disposal of the dead andcleaning up operations (e.g. debris disposal).
(5) The Public Works Department, which provides advice on engineering and structuralsafety.
(6) The Public Utilities agencies, which are responsible for shutting down and diversionof power, gas and water supplies to facilitate the fire-fighting and rescue operations, andfor their restoration after the disaster.

8. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATIONOver the past years, Singapore was involved in the following areas in co-operation in disaster management:a. International Relations ProgrammeSingapore has an on-going exchange programme with a number of countries from the Asia-Pacificand Europe. The various emergency authorities in Singapore, especially the Ministry of Home
Affairs, the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Singapore Police Force meet their respective
foreign counterparts from time to time to exchange views and experiences on emergency
preparedness and disaster management.

b. Overseas Rescue Assistance
The Singapore Civil Defence Force has since assisted the Philippines in the Baguio Earthquake
rescue operation in 1990 and Malaysia in rescue operation in the collapse of the. Highland Towers
in Kuala Lumpur in 1993. This contingent is registered with the United Nations Disasters
Reduction Organisation (UNDRO) as an International Search and Rescue Team.

c. Training(1) The Singapore Civil Defence Force has provided assistance to some of its ASEAN
neighbours in rescue and fire fighting. Some examples include the training attachments
for the Brunei fire services and training for the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance andRescue Teams (SMARTs). A number of Singapore Civil Defence Force’s personnel wereattached to the fire services of Japan and Hong Kong for training in order to benefit fromthe experiences of these countries.

(2) The Singapore Civil Defence Force also offers its training courses on Urban Searchand Rescue and Emergency Behaviour Management to its ASEAN neighbours. Thesetraining will be conducted with realism in the Civil Defence Academy, with its modern
innovation like training simulators and facilities.

Singapore deeply values the exchange of ideas and sharing of expert knowledge and technology in disaster prevention andmanagement. We have on-going programmes with countries in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the USA. Singapore has a lot tolearn from countries with vast experience in managing disaster reduction programmes. We have been learning and adopting
suitable ideas for use in our own local context and over the years have been able to develop proficiency in some areas ofdisaster preparedness response, particularly in the area of disaster prevention and education and in handling and mitigating
disasters in urban environment. These are areas in which Singapore would be able to share our own experience with othercountries.

9. CONCLUSION
Singapore values public safety and security. It believes in being prepared to face major disaster so as to ensure minimum
disruption by any disaster to its community, environment and infrastructure. It garners all efforts to promote andinstitutionalise emergency preparedness among its people, while developing and exercising contingency plans for a range offoreseeable disasters to be executed by various emergency agencies in close co-ordination. Where appropriate, it also shares its
experience and rescue resources to nearby countries in need of assistance.

Feb 1999