U.S. Army Pacific and the Government of Papua New Guinea completed the first Oceania Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange May 15 in Lae, Papua New Guinea with a closing ceremony and remarks from Maj. Gen. James Pasquarette, USARPAC deputy commanding general, and Brig. Gen. Gilbert Toropo, commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

The Oceania DREE was a five-day exercise hosted by the Papua New Guinea National Disaster Centre and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. The DREE consisted of presentations and discussions from subject matter experts, a tabletop exercise, a field training exercise and an after action review.

"An exercise such as this is a significant exercise that can allow our agencies to properly practice and mitigate the circumstances that confront us," said Toropo "This exercise will also help other agencies identify the strengths and their weaknesses, so that we can better prepare for times of an emergency."

The disaster scenario used for this year's DREE was a cyclone severely impacting the regional island nations and moving on to Lae, Papua New Guinea. The scenario involved floods restricting roads and port activities.

More than 80 participants from PNG, the U.S., Australia, Solomon Islands, various international organizations, private organizations, and nongovernmental organizations participated in the exercise.

A field training exercise was conducted during the DREE and took place at the Lae port, Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) Memorial Hospital and the Nadzib Airport. Participants had the opportunity to evaluate and tour these facilities to further understand the capabilities needed to support the Province in the case of a major disaster.

"We should set frameworks after this, so that all government agencies can work together within that framework," said Toropo. "If we practice together in peacetime, we will be able to effectively deal with the outcomes of a natural disaster."

On the final day of the exercise an after action review and was followed by a closing ceremony featuring cultural dance groups from local tribes and gift exchanges between USARPAC and PNGDF. After the ceremony was completed, Pasquarette and Toropo held a press conference to answer questions from the media about the recent exercise.

Pacific Resilience is USARPAC's platform to engage, partner and prepare for a Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response, using both military and civilian organizations in order to enhance the ability to respond and recover from an emergency situation. It is not a singular event, but one of many exercises that ensure that the United States Army Pacific is prepared to assist our global partners.

"I will tell you that beyond working through the hard problems of the exercise over the last few days, more importantly we have established some important personal relationships that, if nurtured, can linger well into the future and I hope that the lessons learned during this exercise will be part of a growing relationship between our two nations," said Pasquarette.