Pacific region disaster preparedness exercise begins
A five-day-long annual Pacific Resilience (PR) Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE) was launched yesterday to increase disaster preparedness, response capabilities and civilian-military coordination in the face of a possible large-scale natural disaster. The Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of the Armed Forces Division, Lt Gen. Md Mainul Islam, inaugurated the function at the Golf Garden restaurant in the city. Deputy Commanding General (Operations) of the US Army Pacific, Maj. Gen. Gregory C. Bilton, and senior officers of the armed forces were present.
In his speech, the PSO said, Being deltaic and at the end of a bay funnel, Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country. We have progressed a lot in managing most of the natural disasters. But we are yet to have effective capabilities in managing earthquake-related disasters. We have not experienced any major earthquake for a long time. But the situation after a major earthquake in Dhaka city would be catastrophic, he warned.
Following the inauguration of the DREE, director general (DG) of the Operations and Plan Directorate of the Armed Forces Division, Brig. Gen. Azazul Bar Chowdhury, Maj. Gen. Gregory C. Bilton, and joint secretary of the disaster management and relief ministry, Md Mohsin, held a joint press conference.
During the press conference, Maj. Gen. Bilton said the purpose of the exercise is to help build capacity and also provide reassurance to the civilians through the members of the armed forces when disaster strikes. We will continue such types of exercise in cooperation with the Bangladeshs Armed Forces Division, he added.
On the first day of the five-day exercise, a teacher of the department of disaster science and management of Dhaka University, Prof. Dr SM Maksud Kamal, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Tawhid-ul-Islam, BBC Media Actions Richard Lace and UN Residence Coordinator Robert Watkins presented different papers on the issue.
This years PR DREE will specifically exchange plans, equipment and personnel between the two countries to increase readiness for earthquake response and recovery in Dhaka.
The primary themes of this years PR DREE are logistics, emergency public communication, and media affairs. Logistical topics will address foreign humanitarian assistance considerations; the reception and dissemination of aid, first responders, and support to the injured; prioritization of land, air and sea space; and management of logistical supplies. Communication considerations will focus on civil-military interoperability; alerting and informing the public; joint information management; and media partnerships. Other topics, such as engineering, medical, urban search and rescue (USAR) and disaster coordination, will also be included in the exercise. At least 150 members of the civil and military organisations, including six media-persons, participated in the exercise.
On Monday, a table top exercise (TTX) at the Fire Services and Civil Defence Training Academy will provide participants details of the scenario and several questions, testing their various areas of expertise. The TTX will lead into the field training exercise (FTX), which will expand on the TTX scenario. Tomorrow, the FTX will include several other locations in Dhaka, in order to simulate some of the different logistical obstacles that would arise if a large-scale earthquake hits the city. Following the exercises, an after-action review (AAR) will be held to identify issues that need to be addressed in future iterations of the PR DREE.
Pacific Resilience is USARPACs main platform for sharing best practices and lessons learned across the HA/DR spectrum to enhance all parties abilities to respond and recover from an emergency situation.
