CFE-DMHA director strengthens Asia-Pacific disaster management partnerships
02.09.2015
PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii – Col. Joseph Martin, director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DMHA), met with disaster management counterparts throughout the Asia-Pacific Jan. 24 – Feb 4.
The trip reenergized initiatives with officials from the Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre (RHCC), housed at the Changi Command and Control Centre in Singapore, the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Centre, the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.
This trip provided an opportunity to meet with new partners and continuing contributors to the international disaster management community and establish relationships for further communication and collaboration,” said Martin. “As someone once told me, ‘we should not be exchanging business cards for the first time in the midst of a disaster.’”
A significant topic of discussion in Jakarta was civil-military coordination of logistical support during disaster response: “coordination without logistics is hallucination,” said Said Faisal, executive director of the AHA Centre.
Discussions of logistical cooperation carried over to the Bangkok portion of the trip when Martin met with Baptiste Burgaud, a logistical officer for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP directs the logistical cluster for the United Nations.
Logistics and heavy lift capabilities are fundamental platforms that the U.S. military brings to disaster response,” said Martin. “Contributing to stronger civil-military coordination in logistics benefits all parties – from the survivors of a disaster to the humanitarian community laboring to provide aid to those in need.”
Martin travelled with Dr. John Wood, director of Pacific Outreach, U.S. Pacific Command, and Mike Sashin, chief of Plans and Analysis Branch for CFE-DMHA.
Lee Khaim Jin, head of Corporate Affairs and Programme Division of the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Centre, explains the AHA Centre’s Disaster Monitoring and Response System (DMRS) to Col. Joseph Martin, director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, and other U.S. visitors of the Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia Jan. 26. The DMRS is a DisasterAWARE decision support platform developed by the Pacific Disaster Center to enhance advanced disaster monitoring, warning, modeling, evidence-based decision-making, and trans-border cooperation capabilities in the region.
Col. Joseph Martin, director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, speaks with Said Faisal, executive director of the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Centre, during a visit to the Jakarta-based organization Jan. 29.
(From left) Lt. Col. Kurt Leffler of the Office of Defense Cooperation U.S. Mission to ASEAN, Dr. John Wood, director of Pacific Outreach, U.S. Pacific Command, Capt. Greg St. Pierre, chief of the Southeast Asia Policy Division, U.S. Pacific Command, Col. Joseph Martin, director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, and Lee Khaim Jin, head of Corporate Affairs and Programme Division of the ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance (AHA) Centre, discuss coordination of disaster relief in the Asia-Pacific at the AHA Centre in Jakarta, Indonesia Jan. 29.
Col. Joseph Martin, director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, meets with Per Velandia, an emergency officer for the United Nations Children’s Fund, and Baptiste Burgaud, a logistical officer for the U.N. World Food Programme, to discuss civil-military coordination at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok Jan. 30.
Col. Joseph Martin (center), director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, meets with staff from the Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre, housed at the Changi Command and Control Centre in Singapore Jan. 26.
Col. Joseph Martin (center), director of the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, along with other foreign visitors, are briefed on the Singapore Navy's Information Fusion Centre during a tour of the Changi Command and Control Centre in Singapore Jan. 26.