Courtesy Photo | Luke Beckman, situational awareness manager for the American Red Cross, was joined by...... read more read more
WEST POINT, N.Y. - In the historic Washington Hall of the United States Military Academy campus, more than 100 young men and women, wearing the freshly starched white shirts and crisp grey pants of a cadet, filled the room. The auditorium buzzed with voices discussing a single topic – disasters.
Leaders of the disaster management community joined the students April 27-28 to participate in the second Student Workshop on Civil-Military Operations at West Point’s Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations (CSCMO). The two-day event focused on civil-military coordination in humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HA/DR) in the Philippines and Africa.
“Many of the principles and lessons of HA/DR operations are applicable regardless of location,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Lohman, associate professor for CSCMO. “Yet, each place and region of the world has its own unique environmental and human characteristics, an understanding of which can significantly enhance critical decision-making.”
Separate panels of experts discussed each region: the Black Panel discussed the Philippines, and the Gold Panel, Africa.
Dr. Imes Chiu, chief of applied research for the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, represented CFE-DMHA and U.S. Pacific Command during the engagement. As the coordinator of the Black Panel, she was joined by Dr. Thomas Chandler, associate research scientist at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Luke Beckman, situational awareness manager for the American Red Cross, Charles Devaney, a graduate student specializing in geospatial technologies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Louis Buck, software engineer with InstantEye and Armed Forces of the Philippines Col. Restituto Padilla, Republic of the Philippines liaison officer to U.S. Pacific Command.
The Black Panel posed the question: how do you have a unity of effort in disaster response without a unity of command?
“Imagery transcends language barriers, transcends cultural barriers,” said Chiu. “So [imagery is] a good common platform that can be used in a rapid needs assessment when [response personnel] cannot access [an] affected area.”
The panel proposed gathering that imagery using expendable unmanned aerial vehicles, or xUAVs. Devaney and Ted Ralston, drone developer and adviser to the geography departments at California State, Long Beach, and University of Hawaii at Manoa, spent months in the Philippines during the disaster response to Typhoon Haiyan utilizing xUAVs to do just that, and hoped to impart lessons learned in the Philippines to the cadets.
“A lot of things can be interpreted if you just have a snapshot of the ground,” said Devaney in a previous interview.
In the days and weeks following the devastating typhoon, the team was able to use the xUAV imagery to create a mosaic of the affected area within the city of Tacloban. The mosaic was then used to inform nongovernmental organizations of the situation in locations that could not be reached by land.
“The [workshop] manifests the perfect synthesis of our teaching focus for the cadets,” said John Melkon, outreach coordinator for CSCMO. “In one single forum we give them exposure to the unique vision, missions and culture of many of the principal actors in the civ-mil spectrum of humanitarian assistance and disaster response. In this regard, the cadets begin to formulate an understanding of this operating space that will probably benefit them within the first five years of their service.”
The goal of the Black Panel was not to answer the question, said Chiu, but to encourage the students to consider options outside of traditional military venues.
“This is one possible solution to encourage new and dynamic civil-military cooperation,” she said.
“The panelists bring years of experience in these types of operations and their thoughts and perspectives give the cadets a lot to think about if they are ever called to operate in a HA/DR environment, “ said Lohman. “[The cadets] found it one of the most interesting and informative sessions they have had at West Point.”
CFE-DMHA and West Point are currently designing a program that will send a cadet to the Philippines for a monthlong internship with Dr. Chiu.
“It’s a very exciting idea,” said Chiu. “It builds upon an existing partnership to incorporate HA/DR capabilities into the civil-military operations at the beginning of a military officer’s career.”
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.13.2014 14:35 |
| Story ID: | 129650 |
| Location: | WEST POINT, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CFE-DMHA takes UAVs to West Point, by Katryn McCalment, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT