Photo By Staff Sgt. Terence Brady | Royal Cambodian Army Col. Mak Sophai, left, presents a strategy for disaster relief...... read more read more
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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia and U.S. military medical personnel participated in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief tabletop exercise March 21 during a subject-matter expert exchange in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
As the final event of Cambodia Medical Exercise 14-1, the TTX tested the participants' abilities to plan a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief response effort. In the scenario, heavy rainfall produced mass flooding in Phnom Penh, displacing civilians, damaging buildings and unearthing unexploded ordnance.
“We wanted the participants to create the framework for planning an HADR response,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joy Dierks, a preventive medicine officer with III Marine Expeditionary Force Surgeon’s Office, III MEF. “It is important to know who they will need to coordinate with in the community.”
Coordination between not only medical professionals, but other disaster response organizations within the Cambodia government, ensures affected citizens are properly cared for, according to Dierks.
“It is important to have everyone involved,” said Dierks. “For example, the Ministry of Health may have medical personnel, facilities and equipment, but they do not have teams who can coordinate transportation, police [measures] and other aspects that are important to organize safe response efforts.”
With each responding organization’s unique capability identified, participants had to communicate effectively to ensure they coordinated their disaster response efforts efficiently, according to Ngeth Sovann, the deputy director of Preventative Medicine, Cambodia Ministry of Health.
“If units are not coordinating with each other, stable communication to provide support will not happen,” said Sovann.
As the scenario progressed, the group dynamic shifted and participants with less experience took the reins and became more involved in the planning process.
“Experienced officers provided good mentoring and monitored the younger participants’ progress,” said Dierks. “During the TTX, they gave the opportunity to the junior officers to give new ideas and speak on behalf of the groups.”
As the exercise came to a close, participants fleshed-out many ideas for implementing response efforts, according to Dierks.
“It is always a challenge with a TTX to prepare for natural disasters, as it is hard to plan without actual scenarios occurring,” said Dierks. “We don’t always have an idea of what could go wrong, but I think that the TTX gave them an idea of what to expect.”
The teamwork from the groups improved not only Cambodia and U.S. professional understanding, but personal relations among the separate entities participating in the TTX as well, according to Sovann.
“Better communication between us was developed through what we learned in the class,” said Sovann. “Now we can better cooperate with one another because we understand one another.”
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 04.28.2014 21:03 |
| Story ID: | 127963 |
| Location: | PHNOM PENH, KH |
| Hometown: | ELLICOTT CITY, MD, US |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Cambodia, US medical personnel develop humanitarian assistance strategy, by SSgt Terence Brady, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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