Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Hughes | Honorable Minister Mr. Hard Bahadur, chairman, Ministry of International Affairs and...... read more read more
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POKHARA, NEPAL — United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) announced its participation in the Pacific Resilience 2019 Disaster Response Exercise & Exchange (DREE)-Nepal held in Pokhara, Nepal, from May 19-26, 2019 on Sunday.
Under the “Unity of Effort” banner, the DREE is a multilateral and multinational coordination, communication, and cooperation exercise between USARPAC, the Nepali Army, emergency responders, and additional 15 anticipated nations to respond to natural and man-made disasters in Pokhara.
“The DREE has been a pillar effort that has strengthened the U.S.-Nepal partnership,” U.S. Army Maj. Valente Perry, the USARPAC Civil Military Operations Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE) planner said.“It has elevated regional and international partnerships to increase disaster response capabilities in a geographical area with a history and predictable future of mega-scale natural disasters.
The DREE is the fifth iteration of the Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief engagement between USARPAC and the Nepali Army. Previous exercises occurred in 2011, 2013, 2016, and 2018 and focused on earthquake response. A 2015 exercise was canceled as a result of the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal. The 2016 event featured a Table-Top Exercise (TTX) and Field-Training Exercise (FTX) focused on an earthquake impacting Kathmandu.
This year’s exercise is the first held at the provincial level and is composed of a TTX, FTX, subject matter expert exchanges, multilateral demonstrations, technical training, and a cultural day.
U.S. Army Maj. Jonathan Swoyer, U.S. Embassy-Kathmandu Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation-Nepal, encouraged attendees to “learn, network and build your personal and professional disaster management capacity” while helping Nepal build its capacity to respond to disasters.
Subject matter experts are slated to share, test and enhance skills and knowledge through presentations and “hands-on” activities. They will discuss best practices and lessons learned during an after action review to help mitigate threats from disasters.
“Disasters, both natural and human induced, are the bitter reality of our lives,” Nepali Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gaurab Tandul said.
As responsible citizens and professionals from various sectors, governmental, non-governmental and international, the way forward for us is to anticipate the lurking threats based on past incidents, facts, data and studies,” he said.
The DREE is a part of USARPAC’s Pacific Resilience series of engagements, which are held in multiple countries throughout the year to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster response development programs. They demonstrate a mutual commitment to support humanitarian and security interests of our allies and partner nations throughout the Indo-Pacific.
Media interested in covering this exercise should contact U.S. Embassy-Kathmandu Public Affairs Office Dennis Yang at email: YangDT@state.gov
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2019 08:28 |
| Story ID: | 323199 |
| Location: | POKHARA, NP |
| Web Views: | 459 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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