Mayday at Sea: How Pacific Partnership Prepares for Real Emergencies

Check out this video highlighting a full-scale disaster response exercise in Samoa that CFE-DM supported during Pacific Partnership 2025!

Led by the the Government of Samoa, through their Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Samoa (MNRE), in collaboration with Pacific Partnership 2025 (PP25) and CFE-DM, the comprehensive four-day workshop and exercise took place October 26-29 to evaluate and enhancing Samoa’s national disaster response capabilities.

Under the guiding theme, “As local as possible, as international as necessary,” the workshop focused on current disaster response trends, regional partnerships, and operational frameworks. It served to orient participants to the objectives, methodologies, and anticipated scenarios of the subsequent exercises and to foster a shared understanding across agencies and regional partners.

The full-scale exercise featured two concurrent maritime scenarios at Matautu Wharf. The first simulated a search-and-rescue operation in response to a ferry disaster between Apia and Pago Pago. Emergency responders conducted at-sea rescues, managed survivor triage, and coordinated inter-agency communication under time-sensitive conditions. The second scenario involved an oil spill response operation, activating the Samoa National Oil Spill Contingency Plan to assess national capacity in marine pollution control, containment, and environmental mitigation.

This was the 21st iteration of Pacific Partnership, which is the U.S. Navy’s largest annual multinational humanitarian and civic assistance mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. Each year, the mission works alongside partner nations to strengthen relationships, bolster host-nation capacity, and support efforts to reduce the risk of, prepare for, and respond to disasters.