CIVIL DEFENCE FORCE (Particulars)

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked the Minister for Home Affairs what is the present size of the Civil Defence Force made up of regulars, reservists and volunteers, and whether the Force is now suitably equipped to maintain, protect and rescue our civilian population in a large-scale civil disaster or emergency.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Prof. S. Jayakumar): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) formed in 1982 presently has a total strength of 8,500 men. This is made up of 280 regular officers, 2,500 full-time National Servicemen and 5,600 reservists. The SCDF has also over the years recruited and trained more than 11,000 volunteers in the various constituencies in basic civil defence skills under the Civil Defence Volunteer programme. Our civil defence and emergency plans can only work if the civilian population too do their part by participating in civil defence training and taking civil defence exercises seriously.

Over the last three years, the SCDF has established, in addition to the command and control elements, specially trained rescue and construction units, residential zone and other types of support units. These units are made up mainly of reservists. They are equipped for civil defence operations. The types and number of such equipment are being built up as rapidly as possible. Wherever necessary, civilian resources will also be mobilized.