MULTI-AGENCY CIVIL EMERGENCY EXERCISE

CONDUCT OF EXERCISE

A Civil Emergency (CE) Exercise involving the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and some 21 other Home Team and Related Agencies (RA) was conducted at the following 5 locations this morning:

a. Dhobby Ghaut MRT Station;
b. Marina Bay MRT Station;
c. Toa Payoh MRT Station;
d. Toa Payoh Bus Interchange; and
e. Raffles Place MRT Station.

Based on the recent multiple terrorist attacks on the public transport networks in London and Madrid, the three hour emergency exercise, which started at 6.25 am, simulated simultaneous bomb blasts at the various locations as well as the release of a chemical agent at the Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station. These incidents triggered massive emergency responses from the Homefront agencies, including the SCDF and the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The 22 participating agencies of the exercise are listed at Annex A. The SCDF is the Incident Manager for dealing with civil emergencies in Singapore.

During the exercise which involved over 2,000 personnel; thunderflashes, smoke and fire simulators were used. About 500 simulated casualties with injuries were also deployed to test emergency rescuers at the scene. To further invoke a sense of realism, the date, time and exact details of the exercise were not released until 15 minutes before the exercise, after which announcements on the exercise were carried by local broadcast media. This was a deliberate move to better gauge and test the exercise participants, including the train commuters who were either in the trains or MRT stations when the exercise started.

Apart from the on-site multi-agency response and mitigation, the exercise also involved off-site crisis management, such as the medical evacuation of mock casualties by SCDF, the Singapore Armed Forces and private ambulances to the participating hospitals and polyclinics. Personnel from SPF and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports also rendered assistance to family and relatives at the Family Assistance Center. In addition, the People"s Association activated its Emergency Preparedness Group, Community Emergency Response Teams and other volunteers in support of the exercise.

In-train and in-station announcements were made during the exercise to inform the commuters of their involvement in the exercise, as well as the disruption of train services. About 3,000 commuters on board the affected trains were evacuated from the trains and an alternative mode of transportation in the form of a shuttle-bus service was provided by SBS Transit Ltd and SMRT Corporation Ltd. This was to minimise inconvenience to the affected commuters.

Road closures by the Traffic Police were kept to the minimum. Cordons were set up within the immediate exercise vicinity and strictly enforced to facilitate the conduct of the exercise.

EXERCISE ANNOUNCEMENTS/ALERTS

Members of the public were informed of the CE exercise through a series of pre-exercise announcements and alerts. From 28 Dec 2005, posters in the four official languages were placed at all MRT stations and bus interchanges to alert commuters of the exercise. The public was further kept informed of the exercise though the media.

During the exercise on 8 Jan 06, MediaCorp TV"s scroller message facility and teletext, MediaCorp radio announcements and the Expressway Monitoring Advisory System (EMAS) alerted the public of the on-going exercise, including the disruption of train services, closure of affected train stations, and the affected roads within the immediate exercise vicinity. More information was also made available on the CNA and SCDF websites.

"Exercise-In-Progress" signboards were also prominently placed at affected MRT Stations, participating polyclinics, hospitals and community club throughout the exercise.

CONCLUSION

This CE exercise is part of SCDF"s and its related agencies" on-going efforts to sharpen our respective operational readiness and joint-capabilities for handling terror attack situations. It tested the coordination and validated the emergency response system of the various agencies, which included the two public transport operators, namely SBS Transit and SMRT.

The exercise was also an opportunity to directly involve members of the public so that they could experience firsthand the impact of similar disasters and the ways to counter them. The exercise was a reflection of the nation"s resolve and state of readiness to manage terrorism and other large scale emergencies.

The success of the exercise depended not only on the government agencies and the transport operators, but also the support rendered by the members of the public, especially the commuters and building occupants/tenants who were affected by the exercise. SCDF would like to thank them for their co-operation and understanding shown during the exercise and wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

ANNEX A

S/N Participating Agencies of Exercise Northstar V
1 Building and Construction Authority (BCA)
2 Housing and Development Board (HDB)
3 Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)
4 Internal Security Department (ISD)
5 Land Transport Authority (LTA)
6 Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS)
7 Ministry of Education (MOE)
8 Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)
9 Ministry of Health (MOH)
10 Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA)
11 Ministry of Transport (MOT)
12 National Environment Agency (NEA)
13 People"s Association (PA)
14 Public Utilities Board (PUB)
15 SBS Transit Ltd (SBS Transit)
16 SMRT Corporation Ltd (SMRT)
17 Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)
18 Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)
19 Singapore Police Force (SPF)
20 Singapore PowerGas
21 Singapore PowerGrid
22 Singapore Tourism Board (STB)