Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Steps Taken to Shore Up Emergency Preparedness and Civil Defence to Deal with Weather Phenomena Arising from Climatic Change, by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Mr Murali Pillai: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what steps have been taken to shore up the emergency preparedness amongst Singaporeans and civil defence of Singapore to deal with weather phenomena arising from climatic change.

Answer:

1.    The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has been educating members of the public on emergency preparedness for the past decades. For example, how to react in situations of fire, flood, landslide, tremors, lightning (during thunderstorms), tsunami, etc. SCDF conducts training for members of the public, and issues advisories that can be found in public educational materials, such as the Civil Defence Emergency Handbook, and on SCDF’s website. SCDF’s Emergency Preparedness Centre also educates visitors, via interactive exhibits and video accounts, for example of Singaporean survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, how to react during such emergencies.

2.    Climate change has resulted in drier and hotter weather in recent years, increasing the risks of wildfire and heatwave. The inter-agency Wildfire Task Force, which is led by SCDF and with members from agencies such as SLA, NEA, NParks and PUB, steps up preventive measures such as watering and trimming of overgrown vegetation at high-risk areas, ahead of dry weather, to minimise the occurrences of vegetation fire.

3.    The Government also periodically conducts contingency planning exercises involving multiple government agencies, to review our planning assumptions and strengthen coordination in emergency plans.