CPT Amelia’s visit to United Nations University in Tokyo
CPT Amelia Lim, a graduate from the AHA Centre Executive (ACE) Programme in November 2019, recalled her recent visit to the Indonesian city of Palu, the site where an earthquake struck about a year ago and thousands were evacuated. After the earthquake struck Palu in September 2018, liquefaction1 caused buildings to collapse, resulting in deaths.
“When we were there, there was this English teacher who shared with us that she was at a school just opposite the affected neighbourhood and she witnessed how that entire neighbourhood came crushing down right before her eyes during the earthquake. She felt helpless as she could do nothing to alleviate the situation,” recalled CPT Amelia.
ACE Programme participants were brought to a school built by Indonesian Red Cross.
Although the story left CPT Amelia feeling emotional, it helped to put into perspective the impact of the work she does. Besides the exposure she gained during the programme, there were enriching times when CPT Amelia was introduced to new cultures while visiting countries such as New Zealand.
“While we get to see how New Zealanders manage disasters around their region, one interesting part of the trip was when we visited a Maori community where we were introduced to the Maui culture and had to learn a Maui song,” said CPT Amelia.
CPT Amelia’s passion to help people in need started when she was an active member of the Red Cross since secondary school. Thereafter, CPT Amelia began her career as an SCDF frontline paramedic and later on, incorporated fire and rescue as part of her professional role.
For this programme’s intake, CPT Amelia is the only Singaporean among 18 representatives from the 10 Asean countries. She is also the first female SCDF officer to be a member of the Asean Emergency Response and Assessment Team and a certified leader in disaster management.
“When a disaster strikes, we need to know what the affected community needs — do they need housing, rice, water? And also, how many evacuation camps and toilets are needed to be set up, and for how many people?” said CPT Amelia as she shared her valuable learning experience during the programme.
CPT Amelia (extreme left) attending a briefing from the liaison officer
She elaborated, “There were many new concepts I learned when designing a disaster response. One of them was that we need to be consciously aware that vulnerable groups such as females, elderlies and children have different needs. For example, female disaster victims do not only require soap, shampoo, or toothbrush, but also things like female hygiene kit. If one is not consciously aware about these essential details, then he or she is not fully addressing the people’s needs.”
CPT Amelia in a role-playing exercise during the course as she presented a situation report to the ‘UN Secretary General’
CPT Amelia added that the programme was also very self-enriching as the course did not only teach the concept of disaster management but provided opportunities for personal development in areas such as leadership, communication, critical thinking, and system design thinking. CPT Amelia was also one of the three outstanding participants awarded the ACE Stellar Award for having obtained 21 ‘A’s out of 23 courses in the ACE programme.
“We actually didn’t know there was this award until towards the end of the programme. And so, I believe we worked hard not just to get good grades and the award. Nonetheless, receiving this award was truly a pleasant surprise for me,” said CPT Amelia.
1 Liquefaction, a phenomenon in which the strength of the soil is greatly reduced due to the cause of an earthquake usually resulting in tremendous amounts of damage and loss of lives.