More than 1,000 Civil Aid Service (CAS) officers and members today successfully completed a large-scale biennial exercise to test and assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the service's command, deployment, communication, rescue skills, care for victims and logistical support.

The two-day exercise also tested their efficiency in emergency poultry culling at local farms during an avian influenza outbreak and their ability to follow the prescribed procedures for putting on and taking off personal protective equipment.

It included simulations of search and rescues in tropical cyclones, floods and mountains, as well as tree clearance, casualty evacuation and a poultry culling exercise.

The CAS will review and anaylse the exercise reports and refine its training programmes accordingly.