SINGAPORE - Residents of a rental block in Punggol woke up to "air raid sirens" on Saturday morning. They then made their way to shared bomb shelters along the common corridors, in an emergency exercise to show residents where they can hide if an air raid strikes.
"It's very useful," said Madam Nur Hadiyah, 25, who took her three children aged three, four and nine, along for the exercise. "Now we know what to do if something happens. We've never seen the inside of the shelter before," said the housewife.
About 200 residents of Block 206A Punggol Drive took part in the exercise organised by the People's Association Punggol Coast Constituency Office.
The block is one of the 42 Housing and Development Board blocks in Singapore that have shared storey shelters along the common corridors instead of in their homes.
They were later treated to a party at the void deck with magic shows and a bouncing castle, and food and drinks.
Residents were also given emergency bags with a torchlight, mini first aid kit, whistle and an emergency contact list inside.
Madam Audrey Lau, chairperson of the Punggol Coast Community Emergency and Engagement Committee, said: "Normally evacuation exercises are done at the three- or four-room flats. But we received feedback that some residents didn't know where the bomb shelters are so we wanted to raise awareness."
