JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – Multinational military leaders and civil organizations participated in a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) symposium during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise 2018, July 2-3.
Multiple organizations gathered to present information, answer questions and discuss the supporting role militaries can play in humanitarian operations during disasters.
“In this region – in Asia-Pacific – often the military are some of the first responders,” said Ben Lark, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) civil and military relations coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region. “So the purpose of HADR is to respond effectively to disaster situations to bring humanitarian assistance to populations.”
Lark further explained the military role in HADR by describing their engineering and logistical lift capabilities via air, sea and land.
While the capabilities that militaries bring during a disaster are important, the boundaries between military and civil humanitarian organizations need to be understood. The RIMPAC symposium allowed representatives from both areas to discuss and practice such partnerships in a controlled setting.
Lark emphasized that such discussion is useful during RIMPAC because understanding those boundaries now, in a peaceful setting, could prove extremely beneficial when an actual disaster occurs. While militaries have logistical capabilities that can be deployed rapidly to assist in the early stages of disasters, it is the humanitarian agencies that deliver aide directly to the effected people.
Capt. Daryll Long, commodore, 1st Naval Construction Regiment, discussed how HADR provides opportunities for organizations to understand how military forces can transition from combat operations to assisting in humanitarian operations upon request from civil authorities.
“HADR continues to grow and develop into more interoperability, capability and communication with civil authorities,” Long said.
Twenty-five nations, 46 ships, five submarines, about 200 aircraft, and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 27 to Aug. 2 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security of the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2018 is the 26th exercise in the series that began in 1971.