SAF team back in Singapore after 12-day Nepal mission

SINGAPORE — After a 12-day deployment, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has concluded its relief efforts in Nepal and returned to the Republic this afternoon (May 11). Its team members touched down at the Paya Lebar Airbase at 4.30pm, having flown home on the military’s C-130 plane.

The quake — which struck Nepal on April 25, has claimed at least 7,800 lives. While some contingents helped recover bodies, the SAF focused mainly on treating survivors of the quake.

Majority of the team members are doctors and paramedics, who worked in Gokarna, a village about 15km from Kathmandu. They were joined by seven civilian doctors and nurses from various Singapore hospitals, as well as eight personnel from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. The teams treated about 3,000 patients, with quake-related conditions.

“One of the roles of the SAF is in HADR efforts — short for Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. And their training and skills prepare them for such roles,” said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who welcomed the 38 personnel today.

The team’s living conditions in Nepal were basic. They slept in tents, pitched at an open area of an army camp near Kathmandu airport. They ate combat rations of Nasi Briyani and pasta and had to carefully ration bottles of drinking water.

The SAF also donated S$150,000 worth of humanitarian aid supplies to Nepal, which included tents, blankets, portable lights and food. CHANNEL NEWSASIA