We thank Mr Sng Woei Shyong for his letter on People's Association (PA) volunteers being deployed to help out during major rail disruptions (Unnecessary to deploy PA volunteers; Feb 5).
The PA Community Emergency Response Team (Cert) is made up of volunteers trained to respond to an emergency and assist the community in the recovery process.
They are equipped with skills such as first aid, crowd control and communications to handle emergencies or crisis situations.
During peace time, they organise exercises and emergency preparedness activities to stay prepared and ensure operational readiness.
Unplanned situations such as major rail disruptions are not emergencies. Nonetheless, they do impact large crowds of people.
The recent train closures were a good opportunity for the volunteers to practise the Cert teams' response system.
We are grateful that our volunteers had stepped forward because they wanted to help fellow commuters whose lives may be affected by train disruptions.
PA does not intend to nor can we replace the train operator's mitigation measures.
We will do our best to assist, on a voluntary basis, to complement the transport agencies' efforts.
We appreciate the time and effort put in by Cert and other volunteers who had helped during the MRT stations closures and encourage more to step forward to help.
Valerie Yek (Ms)
Head (Corporate Communications Division) for Chief Executive Director People's Association
