Photo By Staff Sgt. Robert Gavaldon | Cobra Gold exercise participants attend a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief...... read more read more
PHITSANULOK, Thailand – Experts from the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance hosted a tabletop exercise to strengthen disaster response for the Indo-Pacific region during Exercise Cobra Gold Feb. 11-14.
Cobra Gold is one of the largest theater security cooperation exercises in the Indo-Pacific and is an integral part of the U.S. commitment to strengthen engagement in the region.
As a part of the 38th iteration of the Cobra Gold exercise, the CFE-DM showcased a humanitarian assistance and disaster response tabletop exercise with more than 100 participants from Thailand, United States, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Korea, India and China.
The HADR TTX creates a forum for civilian organizations and participating nations to come together and discuss how they may operate during an international disaster response or a conflict environment.
“This is the most disaster prone region in the world,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kunce, CFE-DM advisor. “It has been and always will be, given the trends on climate change and population migration. It’s important for the first responders to talk to each other, exchange business cards and understand how they would operate and work together in a real-world response.”
When disaster strikes, many non-government and military branches, with their own unique processes, come together to provide humanitarian assistance.
“[The HADR TTX] allows us to sit down with our interlocutors in uniform from different parts of the world to discuss what we do in the field,” said Mr. Zarvan Raniero Owsia, an armed forces delegate for the ICRC. “It’s also an opportunity for us to hear and learn from others.”
In Raniero Owsia’s experience, he noticed the difference it makes when connections with first responders are made in a training environment versus meeting people for the first time in a stressful emergency response situation.
“There has to be dialogue,” said Raniero Owsia. “In my experience, dialogue starts in places like this [training environment] because when we are out in operations whether it be uniformed personnel or somebody with a humanitarian badge, all indicators are on the red [stressful],” said Raniero Owsia. “At the end of the day this exercise [HADR TTX] is good for us. It is good for our partners, and first and foremost it is good for those we are out there trying to help.”
The measure of success of the HADR TTX comes down to three objectives said, Mr. Joseph Martin, CFE-DM director.
“Our first goal, is to see if we can enhance the understanding of each participants’ role in the civil-military relations arena,” said Martin. “Second, improve their technical awareness of what other organizations do and the third major goal is to network and build relationships.”
Martin rephrased a quote he heard from a friend who works for the United Nations, which speaks to the heart of the exercise.
“The first time you meet somebody really should not be at the scene of a disaster,” said Martin. “It should be at a training event, like HADR TTX, where you can build those relationships.”
For this particular training event, relationships are being strengthened with organizations from the ICRC, The United Nations Commission on Refugees and Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.
“This exercise gives us the chance to engage participants across the region and it lays the groundwork for building relationships,” said Martin.
| Date Taken: | 02.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.15.2019 21:40 |
| Story ID: | 310984 |
| Location: | TH |
| Hometown: | JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 176 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, CFE-DM strengthens Indo-Pacific disaster response, by MSgt Theanne Tangen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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