Photo By Capt. Aaron Moshier | Stakeholders from natural disaster response agencies from Malaysia participate in a...... read more read more
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Nearly 50 civilian and military disaster response stakeholders from Malaysia participated in the first Malaysian Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) Civil-Military Course at the Malaysian Armed Forces Officer Mess, Wisma Perwira, April 17-19.
The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) supported Malaysia’s National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) and the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) in administering the course designed to enhance the knowledge of disaster response stakeholders in Malaysia and operationalize civil-military coordination at the national, regional and international levels.
“We see Malaysia as an important Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief partner,” said Nelson Chang,” CFE-DM advisor and action officer for the course. “We worked alongside NADMA, investing in the course to ensure we met the needs of the participants.”
CFE-DM staff is based out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is designed to facilitate collaborative partnerships, conduct applied research, and develop education, training and information sharing programs in order to enhance U.S. and international civil-military preparedness in HADR.
“NADMA is a relatively new organization in Malaysia, so this is a great opportunity,” said Chang.
Murni Mat Amin, the principal assistant director of HADR, NADMA in Malaysia, expressed appreciation for the partnership with CFE-DM.
“We can learn from the U.S. in terms of coordination, planning, and information sharing during [a] time of disaster,” said Amin. “[The] instructors have done very good research on all situations. They can give a total overview on each situation, and we really appreciate their sharing.”
The students received presentations by experts from CFE-DM, NADMA, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, U.N. World Food Programme, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army National Guard from the state of Washington during the three-day course.
“We are happy that participants from different agencies joined this workshop,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Chyteira Dues, Operations and Bilateral Affairs Officer for the U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur.
The course included participants from NADMA, MAF, Heath Ministry, Foreign Affairs Ministry, Defense Ministry, and various state governments.
In addition to the presentations the students discussed case studies where they break out into small groups and have discussions on the lessons learned from real world scenarios such as the 2014 Malaysia floods, 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and the 2014 State Route 530 landslide in the U.S. state of Washington. The event culminated with a table top exercise facilitated by the Pacific Disaster Center Global, where participants applied the variety of concepts learned during the course.
“There are many things that the U.S. can share with Malaysia,” said Dues. “We can provide assistance by sharing knowledge, information, and experiences. We can focus on lessons learned from previous disasters so we can be better prepared for the future.”
| Date Taken: | 04.19.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2019 22:41 |
| Story ID: | 318877 |
| Location: | MY |
| Hometown: | JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 195 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, US, Malaysia partner to enhance Indo-Asia-Pacific disaster response coordination, by MSgt Theanne Tangen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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