Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange Training
An oceanic disaster response exercise and exchange training is being held in the country, serving as a platform to initiate civil and military regional dialogue on national disaster response.
The four-day event which begun yesterday and finishes on Friday, is being held at the Grand Pacific Hotel. It is the first of its kind to be held in Fiji and is co-sponsored by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and the United States Army Pacific.
It includes participants from 14 countries and 24 Fijian Government departments.
US Commanding General, Brigadier General Doug Anderson said the key areas of focus during the exercise are warning procedures, evacuation procedures, search and rescue procedures and mitigation procedures as well as medical responder training. “When we collaborate and share ideas you have a better understanding of a regions’ capabilities and this exercise rotates from country to country every year,” he said.
“It is incumbent on the nations to take the lessons learnt and take them back to their respective organisations, share the topics we have learnt as well as the respective issues discussed and incorporate them into their own government training programmes.”
Speaking at the opening of the fourday event, Minister for National Disaster Management Inia Seruiratu applauded the training programme saying it was also an opportunity for Fiji to test local national disaster plans and put them into practice.
“Although it’s a table top exercise, we will go through the plan and synchronisation of the plan itself and we should be able to pick up on some of the gaps and strengths of the plan. There’s no such thing as a perfect plan. It’s also about the co-ordination of all activities.”
Mr Seruiratu added that assistance and disaster relief was not a simple task.
“Training is a never ending process and it saves unnecessary casualties, this is part of our proactive measures so that we can always prepare well. Logistics is a key component with communication, leadership command and control. We will also look at our capabilities and capacity.”
He said that lessons learnt from the training will be disseminated to the communities by the 24 participating government agencies.
Furthermore the training will clarify the roles of the Fijian Disciplined Forces in co-ordinated disaster response and strengthen inter-operability with military forces overseas.