EVACUATION FROM BUILDINGS DURING EMERGENCIES

EVACUATION FROM BUILDINGS DURING EMERGENCIES:

(Centralised warning system): 3.

Mdm Cynthia Phua asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs whether there is a centralised system in place to warn the public to evacuate from buildings because of severe earth tremors and which central agency is responsible for raising the alarm if there is a need to take precautionary measures to evacuate from buildings or the underground train system.

4.

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs (a) what measures are taken to educate Singaporeans on proper evacuation from high-rise buildings during emergencies such as earthquakes or fires; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider conducting emergency evacuation audits to test the effectiveness of measures undertaken by building owners.

The Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs (Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee) (for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs): Sir, may I take Question Nos. 3 and 4 together as they are related?

Mr Speaker: Yes.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, tremors in Singapore caused by strong distant earthquakes are handled by a multi-agency team, comprising representatives from the Meteorological Services of

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NEA, BCA, HDB, LTA, the Police and Civil Defence. These agencies provide the relevant expertise to handle tremor incidents.

Sir, Singapore is located at a significant distance away (more than 400 kilometres) from the nearest Indonesian earthquake fault. Over such distances, the seismic waves reaching Singapore would have reduced to a level that is unlikely to have an impact on the structural safety of our buildings which are designed according to established building codes and can withstand tremors caused by distant earthquakes.

Sir, according to LTA, MRT viaducts are designed to withstand loads associated with environmental effects, including tremors caused by distant earthquakes. Tunnels are much less vulnerable to these tremors than above-ground structures. Hence, the MRT structures and underground system should be able to resist the tremors. There is therefore no cause for the public to be alarmed when tremors are felt.

Sir, a disaster management protocol, spearheaded by the Police has been put in place to manage incidents of tremors caused by strong distant earthquakes. In a tremor incident, the Police will mobilise BCA and HDB engineers, who are on call round the clock to inspect and assess the structural integrity of affected private buildings and HDB buildings respectively. These engineers will look out for signs of structural distress, such as cracks in the beams and columns.

If an evacuation is necessary, Police officers will be on-scene to facilitate the evacuation and maintain law and order. The public is advised to remain calm and get out of the building in an orderly manner. Police will also coordinate the

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dissemination of alerts and advisories to the public.

Sir, in the case of MRT structures, the rail operators will carry out the inspection together with LTA. The rail operators have put in place procedure to deal with tremors affecting the MRT system, including evacuation of passengers from the trains or stations where necessary.

Sir, although we have a response plan, members of the public are advised to familiarise themselves with emergency procedures to deal with tremors. These, and other emergency procedures to deal with various contingencies, are set out in SCDF's Emergency Handbook, available at Civil Defence (CD) Division Headquarters, Fire Stations and Neighbourhood Police Centres, as well as on SCDF's website.

Sir, on training, since September 2003, SCDF has conducted programmes to train Singaporeans in emergency preparedness skills. These include a Community Emergency Preparedness Programme (CEPP) conducted free-of-charge daily at the four CD Division Headquarters as well as schools, commercial and industrial workplaces. To date, Sir, about 240,000 participants had been trained.

SCDF also conducts Emergency Preparedness Day, or EP Day, at constituency level to give hands-on experience to residents. To make the exercises more realistic in view of the current security climate, residents are taught how to deal with terrorism-based scenarios by familarising themselves with emergency procedures. For instance, for a bomb or fire scenario, residents will evacuate from their homes to a pre-identified area. Since 2003, 48 EP Days have been conducted annually. In 2006, the EP Day was extended to commercial and industrial premises, bringing the number of EP Days conducted annually to 72.

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Sir, as to whether MHA will conduct emergency evacuation audits to test the effectiveness of measures undertaken by building owners, this is already being done. Currently, Fire Safety Managers appointed by building owners are required to develop emergency plans as well as conduct at least two evacuation drills and two table-top exercises annually. These drills and exercises test the adequacy of the emergency plans for the respective buildings under their charge and are documented in the Annual Fire Safety Report submitted to SCDF. To ensure effectiveness of the emergency plans, SCDF conducts regular audits on these evacuation exercises and drills as well. To complement the work of the Fire Safety Managers, SCDF also conducts exercises at selected high-risk commercial and industrial premises.

Mdm Cynthia Phua (Aljunied: ): Sir, in the case of fire evacuation of any building, it is specific to that building because a fire incident is specific to a building. But in a tremor, it is on a large scale. A lot of occupiers in the offices in Shenton Way did not know what to do. Some evacuated and some did not. My question is: who is coordinating this, unless what MOS is saying is that he confirms that no evacuation is needed when you feel the tremor?

Next, the communication channel for the occupiers is not there. Many people are not receiving the information as to what has happened.

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Sir, as I have said, our buildings are safe from tremors which come from so far away. In fact, the drill is set out in the SCDF's Emergency Handbook, which is, unless new cracks appear in the building, on the walls, parapets, columns and so forth, it is just tremors per se . If you are inside the building, stay inside, get under cover, for example, under a table, and keep away from things that may fall on you,

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such as glass. If you are outside the building, keep in the open, away from buildings and any electrical poles. But I know that residents may still come down.

On 6th March, there were two tremors. One was in the late morning and one in the early afternoon. Quite naturally, some residents came down, although, like I have said, the assurance is, unless there are cracks appearing arising from the tremor, just stay where you are. So far, we have an average of one to two tremors a year. No building has been declared unsafe.

When this happens, Operations Tremor is activated and police then takes charge. Police then activates the engineers from BCA and HDB to inspect the buildings. In that incident, about 350 buildings were inspected.

In terms of communication, Operations Tremor will provide a plan with the communication coming from a centre, which is the police. Police will work with MediaCorp, TV channels and radio to issue advisories. They will go out advising the residents what to do. But internally, in the building, it is up to the building management as to what sort of communication plans should be put in place.

Mdm Cynthia Phua: I just wanted to say that the communication channel is important because, in this case itself, the tremor was quite widespread and the information coming from MediaCorp was a bit late in that manner. So is there any way that the building owners will be able to receive some of these messages that can be passed on to the occupiers of the buildings?

Assoc. Prof. Ho Peng Kee: Basically, like I have said, the drill is known to everybody. So once the tremor is felt, police contacts HDB and BCA to

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check all the buildings which are affected. It takes time for the calls to come in. Police will collate the information on which are the buildings being affected. I think Ms Indranee Rajah,

who was in Ocean Towers, did not go down because the advisory was that buildings were safe from tremors. So, if residents take this cue, and stay where they are, get under cover and, as I have said, keep away from falling things, the tremor will pass.