18-COUNTRY DISASTER RELIEF EXERCISE IN BRUNEI ENDS

Typhoon. Flash floods. Landslides. Collapsed buildings. Over four days, the militaries of 18 countries scrambled to react to such disasters. This was part of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and Military Medicine (MM) Exercise which ended on 20 Jun.

The exercise in Brunei, which started on 17 Jun, involved the 10 ASEAN countries, and the "Plus" countries Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.

During the exercise, military forces responded to a series of disasters in the areas of search and rescue, military medicine, engineering work and giving out aid. About 3,200 troops, seven ships and 15 helicopters from the 18 countries were involved in the exercise.

The Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) Director of Joint Operations Brigadier-General Ngien Hoon Ping explained why this exercise was important: "An exercise like this provides a very useful and safe setting where militaries can come together and promote confidence, peace and stability."

"It shows that the ADMM and ADMM-Plus track is a very feasible and practical one. It's not just about discussions, concepts and policies, but you can see practical cooperation here on the ground in Brunei."

For this exercise, the SAF took part with 340 troops, one Landing Ship Tank (LST), four Super Puma helicopters, as well as medical and combat engineer assets. The LST transported land assets to Brunei, while the helicopters evacuated casualties during the exercise.

The medical team, which operated a primary health and surgical facility to attend to casualties for the exercise, also extended medical services to the locals in Bangar and Selangan towns.

Said Commanding Officer of the 3rd Combat Support Hospital Major (NS) (Dr) David Ng, whose unit was in charge of running the medical facility: "This was an opportunity for my unit to put into real operation the concepts and drills that we've been training for. Also, as this exercise is a multinational collaboration, the interactions we've been having with our medical colleagues from the other nations have been very enriching."

Together with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), the SAF combat engineers built a modular kit 11.3m long, 5.4m wide and 3.1m high. Resembling a room the size of a container cabin, it was used as a medical post during the exercise. After the exercise, the kit was handed over to a primary school in Selangan to be used as a classroom.

The hot and rainy weather posed a challenge to the engineers' construction work, according to 1st Sergeant (1SG) Pradeep s/o Karipahyah, a section commander in the Headquarters Army Combat Engineers Group.

"The temperature can reach 37 degrees Celsius here, which makes it uncomfortable to work, and thunderstorms can happen very suddenly, which forces us to stop work," he said.

Private Rozaserdi Abdul Rasak, a combat engineer from the RBAF, considered working on the modular kit an "unforgettable" experience. "It's been interesting and fun working with the Singapore engineers," he said.

"Although their working styles are different from us, we could still interact very well. They are very professional, and they always think safety-first."

To sum up his experience, 1SG Pradeep said: "I learnt a lot from working with the Bruneians, their language, their culture, the way they work. Plus, the children here are happy to see us. They're always smiling at us, saying hello and shaking our hands. So we're really happy to be here to do this."

The exercise saw many visitors, including His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei, local officials, as well as defence chiefs and officials from many of the member countries who toured the various "disaster" sites.