The Ministry of Health established the Singapore Emergency Medical Team in September 2024. The 34-member team includes doctors from local public hospitals, nurses, a psychologist, a physiotherapist, a clinical operator, and personnel responsible for logistics and operations.

Beyond treating physical injuries, Singapore’s emergency medical team helped earthquake survivors heal invisible scars, with psychologist Dr Evelyn Boon offering hope and resilience.
 

In March this year, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar.

Among the survivors was a six-year-old boy whose kindergarten collapsed before his eyes, and he saw his classmates get crushed to death by the rubble. “He was very fearful and had terrible nightmares. Every night, he clung to his parents when he slept,” recalls Dr Evelyn Boon, Senior Principal Psychologist at Singapore General Hospital.

Dr Evelyn was part of the 34-member Singapore Emergency Medical Team deployed to Myanmar in April 2025 for two weeks to provide medical aid. “I assured the little boy that it was normal for the nightmares to persist for a few more weeks before they go away. I also demonstrated to him and his parents how he could do a butterfly hug to calm himself, and deep breathing to regulate his breath - because when we get anxious we hyperventilate.”

Not all the trauma was new. “Another woman I met had lost her home, husband and son in the 2015 flood. This earthquake destroyed her home again. She told me she checks the weather obsessively. Every report of severe weather triggered an anxiety attack—she feared losing everything once more,” Dr Evelyn shares. “I listened to her and reassured her that her anxiety towards the weather was normal because of all that she had been through. I also shared some tips to help her sleep better. But as this was the second time that she had lost everything, I encouraged her to seek long-term psychiatric support at her local hospital.”

The team also found that many people were too terrified to sleep in their homes. “There were frequent aftershocks. People were afraid of dying in their sleep if the earthquake happened at night,” Dr Evelyn explains. “Even without tents, they chose to sleep in the open to feel safe. I saw people going to work in the day. Then at night, they carried their bolster to the fields to sleep. They just felt safer in the open - fields, parks, road dividers, anywhere.”

Click video to see ‘Tent City’. Most of the people were displaced and stayed in tents in open fields

Natural disasters don’t just shatter homes—they leave invisible wounds of fear and grief that are often harder to heal. Recognising this, Singapore’s emergency medical team became the first World Health Organization-certified team to include a psychologist. As the only psychologist on the mission, Dr Evelyn provided crucial psychological first aid.

“I reassure patients that what they feel is normal. Just as a wound bleeds after an injury, emotions surge after a crisis. Knowing their reactions are natural helps them heal instead of fearing they are going crazy,” explains Dr Evelyn.

Overcoming challenges
The team set up a field hospital at Bahtoo Stadium in downtown Mandalay. There was no designated area for therapy sessions. “One challenge was conducting sessions confidentially,” Dr Evelyn says. “I often had to adapt—sometimes using the maternity tent when it was free, or conducting sessions while the patients waited for their medication. I simply pulled a few chairs away from the rest of the people, and we sat down for therapy.” 

Dr Evelyn’s ‘consultation room’ out in the open field

Language barriers also limited her. “Through translators, I could help, but it was not the same as when I spoke directly in Mandarin or English. Then, I could offer so much more.”

Caring for the caregivers

Dr Evelyn’s mission wasn’t only about patients. She also supported the mental health of her own team.

“Even with training, some cases leave a deeper emotional mark,” she says. “Team members would come to me to talk or cry, and I was there to listen so they could release the emotion and move forward.”

“During the last two days while we were tearing down, I checked in with each colleague.”

After the team returned to Singapore, Dr Evelyn’s work continued. “Some may experience post-traumatic stress reactions after four weeks. So I followed up with a text about a few days after we got back to Singapore.”

“I reminded them to watch for signs like nightmares, anxiety, or low mood. Reporting Officers were asked to notice if someone seemed unusually tired, withdrawn, or irritable. A month later, I followed up with a psychological survey to check for lingering symptoms.”

Dr Evelyn was busy caring for her team — but who was caring for her mental health?

“SGEMT fellow psychologists set up remote support for me. If I needed to reach out, I could text or use the satellite phone to speak with any one of them. My psychologist friends also checked in on me regularly via WhatsApp to see how I was coping. When I returned to Singapore, I did self‑assessments, and again, my psychologist friends and SGEMT mates followed up to make sure I was doing well,” she shares.

Thankfully, the team and Dr Evelyn proved resilient. “We adapted well to life back here and even looked forward to future deployments, because the work felt so meaningful.”

Dr Evelyn’s reflections

What about her own takeaways?

“I think we Singaporeans are fortunate to be sheltered from natural calamities. But it also means we do not know what to do when crisis strikes. In January, I will be visiting Japan’s disaster center to learn how to respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods—so I will know how to react if it happens.”

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