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Jan 5, 2011
S'pore offers help to flood-hit areas
SINGAPORE has offered to help the tens of thousands of people displaced by the huge floods in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Teo Chee Hean has written to Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith with the offer, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), in response to queries about how the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is helping in the relief efforts.
In his letter, DPM Teo said the Super Puma helicopters of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and SAF servicemen are ready to be deployed to render help 'should there be a need'.
The choppers are already in Queensland, in the Royal Australian Air Force's Base Oakey.
DPM Teo said the SAF's Chief of Defence Force Neo Kian Hong had called his Australian counterpart over the New Year weekend with the offer.
DPM Teo said although the Australian authorities 'have matters well in hand', the SAF will pitch in to help 'if only to show our empathy and support for the people of Rockhampton, and as a gesture of thanks and friendship to them for their welcome and hospitality over the years'.
Rockhampton, reported to be one of the worst-hit cities, is south of Shoalwater Bay, where the SAF has been training since 1990.
DPM Teo has also written to Mr Brad Carter, the mayor of the inundated city, to express Singapore's empathy with its people. Shoalwater Bay, which has a training area four times the size of Singapore, is the venue of the SAF's largest annual overseas exercise every year, involving some 5,000 servicemen. Four are currently based there to help coordinate the war games, dubbed Exercise Wallaby.
Mindef's spokesman said earlier the servicemen and SAF equipment are unaffected by the floods.
JERMYN CHOW
S'pore offers help to flood-hit areas
SINGAPORE has offered to help the tens of thousands of people displaced by the huge floods in the north-eastern Australian state of Queensland.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Teo Chee Hean has written to Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith with the offer, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), in response to queries about how the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is helping in the relief efforts.
In his letter, DPM Teo said the Super Puma helicopters of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and SAF servicemen are ready to be deployed to render help 'should there be a need'.
The choppers are already in Queensland, in the Royal Australian Air Force's Base Oakey.
DPM Teo said the SAF's Chief of Defence Force Neo Kian Hong had called his Australian counterpart over the New Year weekend with the offer.
DPM Teo said although the Australian authorities 'have matters well in hand', the SAF will pitch in to help 'if only to show our empathy and support for the people of Rockhampton, and as a gesture of thanks and friendship to them for their welcome and hospitality over the years'.
Rockhampton, reported to be one of the worst-hit cities, is south of Shoalwater Bay, where the SAF has been training since 1990.
DPM Teo has also written to Mr Brad Carter, the mayor of the inundated city, to express Singapore's empathy with its people. Shoalwater Bay, which has a training area four times the size of Singapore, is the venue of the SAF's largest annual overseas exercise every year, involving some 5,000 servicemen. Four are currently based there to help coordinate the war games, dubbed Exercise Wallaby.
Mindef's spokesman said earlier the servicemen and SAF equipment are unaffected by the floods.
JERMYN CHOW
