Coordination is Vital: Singapore, Philippines and US militaries organise multinational disaster relief exercise

SINGAPORE: What happens when an active volcano erupts in the Philippines followed by a Category 5 typhoon striking the same area just five days later?

That was the scenario presented to participants of a multinational drill called Exercise Coordinated Response (EX COORES), as they gathered in Singapore this week to practice real processes in the area of disaster relief. The aim is to strengthen co-operation among militaries during aid and disaster relief operations through a common coordination centre.

In this case, the three-day exercise which started on Monday (Jan 23), was conducted at the Changi Command and Control Centre. It involved about 150 participants from 18 militaries, including that of Singapore, the Philippines, other ASEAN nations like Malaysia Brunei and Thailand as well as the US and China.

“Many of the international militaries that are participating are interested to know how they can get into a country, how they can bring in the military equipment, fly in the airplanes into the country,” said exercise co-director COL Lee Kuan Chung. “So this exercise actually provides them a platform to exchange information, exchange point of contacts so that they are clearer – if the next disaster happens, they do not have to start scrambling.”

Non-military groups like the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Red Cross, Red Crescent, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were also present on Wednesday (Jan 25) to observe the exercise.

Participants reacted to a mock scenario of double devastation when lava from Mt Mayon destroyed everything within a 10km radius, flowing in the direction of the coastal town of Legazpi. More than half the town was destroyed five days later when a Category 5 typhoon struck, killing 8,000 people and displacing half a million.

The exercise was jointly organised by the Changi Regional HADR Coordination Centre (RHCC), the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the United States’ Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance. It is the first multinational Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise since the launch of the RHCC in September 2014.

“To set up a disaster management centre only when disaster strikes doesn’t seem quite effective,” said Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen who observed the exercise. “After we set it up we realised that it was also just a step, and it was equally important to have a network of partners, both military and civilian, who were used to working with each other, so that you can respond very effectively in the first 48 to 72 hours.”

Singapore and the US signed a Memorandum of Understanding to “establish a framework of cooperation” between the US Centre for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance and Singapore’s Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre.

The agreement “demonstrates Singapore’s and the US’ shared intent to foster a strategic partnership and build regional capacity in HADR as affirmed in our enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement,” MINDEF said in a news release.

(News/Blog is lifted from this Channel News Asia link)