Photo By Katryn McCalment | Staff from the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian...... read more read more
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii - The term disaster management is broad, and the diversity of talent needed to support such a mission is vast. Add the need to support civil-military cooperation and coordination between United States Pacific Command and the humanitarian community, international governmental organizations and foreign military partners, and the mission requires not only vast, but also precise expertise as well. Needed personnel include developers, trainers, consultants, linguists, historians, and countless other specialists to tackle the task. The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DMHA) has assembled just such a team.
Nestled in a historic building on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, nearly 30 individuals have come together to establish a community of experts, aimed at helping partner nations around the Asia-Pacific region build capability and capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Each individual brings a unique background of talents and knowledge, which combined makes the organization special.
“Organizational excellence is little more than the collective excellence and experience of its members,” said Col. Joseph Martin, director of CFE-DMHA, a direct reporting organization to U.S. Pacific Command. “Disaster management has so many aspects to it, that diversity of experience is basically a prerequisite for both employees and the organization as a whole.”
More than 75 percent of the staff holds at least one graduate degree, some as many as four; between them, the team speaks 15 languages fluently, and are familiar with half a dozen more. However, even with their varied backgrounds – whether financial managers or civil-military strategists – the staff can be divided into three categories: Planners, trainers, and advisers.
Planners
In the Plans and Operations branch of CFE-DMHA, personnel have decades of experience in civil-military operations (the center represents more than 300 years of military service in total). That military know-how enables smooth coordination for training and operational engagements between Pacific Command units, international government organizations and militaries, and CFE-DMHA staff members.
Civilian experience represents another unique aspect of the CFE-DMHA team. Their extensive experience in host nation countries, local nongovernmental and private sector organizations across the region has included disaster response work in nations where U.S. military engagement has been minimal or non-existent. The resulting relationships provide a deep understanding on how internal dynamics affect disaster preparedness and post-crisis response and are useful in identifying gaps in engagements with foreign allies.
“Many of the staff members past and present have extensive military and non-military experience, and the mix works very well,” said Martin. “By maintaining our military ties, and incorporating comprehensive civil-sector experience, CFE-DMHA is better able to meet both its U.S. and foreign military partner expectations.”
Now, two former pilots, of the CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter and EA-6B Prowler aircraft, spend their time coordinating initiatives with the United Nations and international aid organizations. A former adviser for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance works to build public-private partnerships. And, a former civil-military operations chief organizes experts from around the world each year to instruct the Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course created by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“[CFE-DMHA] has brought together a range of experts to provide a very comprehensive course,” said Lt. Col. Nik Mohd Noor Nik Amin, M.D., commander of a medical battalion in the Malaysian Armed Forces and HELP course participant. “Everything I’ve learned … I’ve learned it from (this class).”
Trainers
As part of the educational mandate given to the center by Congress in 1994, a significant aspect of the organization lies in its ability to inform civilian and military DMHA practitioners of new and emerging information and technology. Experts in a wide range of disaster management and humanitarian topics, instructors of the Humanitarian Assistance Response Training (HART) course – aimed at U.S. and foreign military personnel with disaster response missions – have served in the Coast Guard, Navy, Army and Marine Corps. Prior to their arrival at CFE-DMHA, many have held positions outside of the military, including assignments with the Department of Homeland Security, American Red Cross, and State Department.
With experience as varied as a former director of plans and operations for Naval Medicine and a Coast Guard helicopter pilot, trainers within CFE-DMHA can give lectures on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) exercise scenario development, public health, civil-military coordination, or humanitarian law.
“To complement that is the amazing list of partners from academia, government, and the private sector we maintain,” added Martin, speaking of partnerships CFE-DMHA holds with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, University of Hawaii at Manoa, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, International Organization for Migration, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, RedR – Australia, and many more, which often provide guest lecturers at CFE-DMHA courses.
Advisers
The center’s staff works hand-in-hand with their military counterparts to incorporate non-military humanitarian organizations into disaster and humanitarian training and exercises, while also facilitating conferences, courses and other engagements.
Additionally, individuals who have worked as project managers for humanitarian assistance and disaster response assignments in Southeast Asia contribute to CFE-DMHA’s Disaster Management Reference Handbooks library. Currently, eight countries have dedicated volumes, and three more handbooks are in production to prepare a responding individual or organization with everything they need to know about a nation prior to arrival.
While the focus at the center is disaster preparedness, when a disaster strikes, CFE-DMHA provides subject matter experts to support Pacific Command’s response efforts. With some personnel logging 19 of the Center’s 20 years, individuals have both civilian and military experience responding to numerous typhoons, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes and droughts.
However, the staff does not just advise on DMHA operations; Col. Martin also has knowledge managers, researchers, public relations and social media experts, and travel specialists at his disposal. It is through these behind-the-scene advisers that the organization realizes its congressional mandates of information sharing, conducting applied research, providing education, and facilitating collaborative partnerships.
Beyond the walls
The staff of the Center for Excellence also devotes time to causes beyond the organization. Many volunteer in their spare time and give back to those less fortunate. Whether it be at a house of worship, the American Red Cross, a homeless shelter, or a beach cleanup, an equal amount of hours are dedicated to serving the larger Hawaii community.
In all, the talent and diversity of CFE-DMHA runs the gamut of personalities, education, skills, and interests. Yet, each individual in the team contributes to make the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance stronger and more capable of fulfilling its mission. Whether the task requires the experience of a banker, an engineer, a sports photographer, university-level faculty member, or a NGO project leader, “bottom line, we have an amazing CFE-DMHA family,” said Martin.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.03.2014 17:12 |
| Story ID: | 141067 |
| Location: | PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 137 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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