The Senior Executive Programme on Leadership in Disaster Management was held on 16 – 20 November in Singapore. The course was designed to address the importance of effective leadership in disaster management at strategic and policy levels, focusing on preparedness and response phase of the disaster management cycle.
The speakers discussed various elements and issues on disaster management covering the science of natural hazards (University of Canterbury, New Zealand and Earth Observatory of Singapore), managing disaster response at national level (Air Vice-Marshal John Hamilton who served as the National Controller responsible for the management and co-ordination of the national response following the Christchurch earthquake in 2011), ASEAN’s leadership in large-scale disasters (ASEAN Secretariat and AHA Centre), private sector’s engagement (Singapore’s Corporate Citizen Foundation), civil society’s involvement (World Vision International), international humanitarian mechanisms (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), media management (Channel NewsAsia) and incident command system in disaster emergencies (SCDF).
The training course also included a field visit to the newly-opened Home Team Tactical Centre, an integrated training facility for inter-agency exercises designed to improve emergency preparedness, co-ordination and efficiency amongst the different Home Team departments, including the Singapore Police Force and SCDF. The new centre, boasting the size of 27 football fields, features training facilities such as a drive-in shooting range, mock-ups of a petrochemical plant and a collapsed building site, as well as marine fire-fighting and rescue training facility with the mock ship and 9m-deep pool.
The training course was attended by senior disaster management officials from ASEAN countries, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), and the ASEAN Secretariat. It was co-organised by ASEAN Secretariat and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) as the Lead Shepherd of Training and Knowledge Management with the support of the Government of Australia.
