DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The sixth annual Pacific Resilience
Disaster Response Exercise & Exchange, or DREE, between U.S. Army Pacific,
or USARPAC, and the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division, or AFD, kicked off in
Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug. 30.
An opening ceremony included remarks from
Maj. Gen. Gregory Bilton, USARPAC deputy commanding general, and Lt. Gen. Md
Mainul Islam, principal staff officer for the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division.
The exercise runs from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3 and is a civil-military
disaster preparedness and response initiative between the governments of
Bangladesh and the United States.
The DREE has increased familiarity with
the Dhaka City earthquake response plans, enabling participants to practice
logistical and medical emergency scenarios, identify gaps in plans and
procedures, increase coordination between emergency management and aviation
stakeholders, and practice the incorporation of media in response planning. The
DREE has also provided a venue to evaluate foreign humanitarian assistance
procedures in Bangladesh.
"Bringing together diverse civilian and
military representatives across all aspects of government and non-government
organizations provides a comprehensive medium to work together towards achieving
common emergency preparedness, response and recovery goals," Bilton
said.
The four-day event brings together more than 150 participants
through a phased tabletop exercise, or TTX, and a field training exercise, or
FTX. It includes presentations by subject matter experts on disaster relief and
the earthquake vulnerability in Bangladesh and an after-action review, or AAR,
which will improve the exercise for the next DREE.
"There always seems
to be a hurdle to jump over when responding to any disaster throughout the world
and that is the understanding and partnership between the response team and the
affected nation," said Col. Todd Farmer, head of delegation for the DREE and
joint logistics officer for the Oregon National Guard. "This exercise is solving
that problem by building a strong relationship with not only the military, but
also the government organizations and international organizations that would be
responding."
The DREE scenario involves a 7.5-magnitude earthquake
striking the central and eastern part of Bangladesh, and leaving more than
50,000 killed and 100,000 displaced and injured.
"This type of exercise
is a fantastic opportunity for all groups to get a better understanding of what
resources would be needed and how to best utilize those resources in the event
of a catastrophic earthquake here in Bangladesh," Farmer said.
During
the FTX, participants will create a multi-national coordination center, or MNCC,
which integrates response efforts from the military as well as civilian
government agencies and multiple international organizations. The FTX also
involves the loading and unloading of relief supplies from an aircraft while
managing the distribution of these supplies throughout the region.
Pacific Resilience is a series of exercises throughout the Asia-Pacific
region that ensure that the United States is prepared to assist its global
partners in the event of a major disaster and supports U.S. Pacific Command's,
or USPACOM's, civil-military integration and humanitarian assistance/disaster
relief capabilities.
"This event represents a key component to U.S. -
Bangladesh relations," Bilton said. "By training together, we improve the
capabilities of our countries while strengthening the partnership between our
nations."