CIPs attend disaster management course in
Singapore
Chief Inspectors Alan Chan from Operations Wing and Ken Yeung from Operations Hong Kong Island recently attended a two-week "International Disaster Management Course" (IDMC) at the Singapore Civil Defence Academy (SCDA). This renowned international course was organised by the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Emergency Preparedness Working Group (APEC-EPWG) for 13 officers from seven APEC entities.
With the increasing frequency and magnitude of natural disasters and civil emergencies in the world, it is imperative for police officers, as disaster and emergency management practitioners, to get prepared and equipped to deal with unexpected and unprecedented scenarios. Against this background, APEC-EPWG teamed up with SCDA to organise IDMC for member entities. For the participants from the Mainland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong, the IDMC served as a useful platform for experience-sharing and networking.
"We learned Singapore's 'whole-of-government' response framework and their foresight of disaster management. As a result, we had a better understanding of the related principles and approaches and we can plan ahead in our own field," CIP Chan said.
In addition to lectures, exercise planning, and meeting-the-media training, the course provided thematic visits to the state-of-the-art facilities at the Academy's Field Training Area, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Headquarters Command Centre, the Command Vehicle Fleet and the 4th Civil Defence Divisional Headquarters.
Both CIPs understood better the SCDF's ASEAN and UN related humanitarian missions, and the importance of international collaboration on disaster management relief.
"Having learned sound approaches and good practices from the course, we are going to bring home a lot of new ideas to revise and refine our emergency response systems," CIP Yeung said.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the course, CIP Yeung said: "It is a well structured course. We're very impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm of SCDF in maintaining and enhancing civil defence capability. More importantly, they have shared their good practices and civil defence technology and knowledge with us."
On the whole, the course offered participants a good opportunity to share, exchange and learn from each other in classroom, practical exercises and after-class get-togethers. Both CIPs believe the networking they have developed with the course members would benefit the Force's disaster management mechanism and emergency preparedness in the long run.
Developing
network on emergency preparedness in the long run