Pacific Resilience is the U.S. Army Pacific’s (USARPAC) primary Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HADR) engagement platform, which provides opportunities for USARPAC and a partner nation to collaborate together on civil-military disaster preparedness, response and recovery. The Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise & Exchange (DREE) workshops are designed to promote communication, sharing of best practices, analysis of lessons-learned, and integration of standard operating procedures. DREE exercises use table-top or field-training exercises as the primary educational tool.

The DREE workshop with an Oceania focus was held over 2-5 August 2016 in Port Villa, Vanuatu. Vanuatu is located on the cusp of two tectonic plates in the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' and is currently ranked #1 globally based on risk and exposure to frequent common natural hazards such as cyclones, volcanic eruptions, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts and sea level rises (World Risk Index 2015). The event was cosponsored by the Vanuatu Government and USARPAC.

Prime Minister Charlot Salwai of Vanuatu stated that "It is not a question of ‘whether’. It is not a question of ‘if’. It is only a question of ‘when’. When will Vanuatu be hit by a large scale natural disaster? Oceania Pacific Resilience DREE gives US, Vanuatu and other participants, training similar to what they might conduct on their own, but with the added benefit of working with international and non-governmental organizations. During these portions of the exercise, Vanuatu and the United States, will work together to enhance interoperability, as well as develop common tactics, techniques and procedures" (Cooper 2016).

The Oceania DREE focuses on intersectoral security cooperation and operational civil-military humanitarian assistance and disaster relief with the aim of enhancing situational awareness, collaboration and communication. The information delivered and the exercise were designed to improve national preparedness and capacity to respond specifically to threats from cyclones to small island states in the Oceania region. Civil and military authorities, both local and international, were engaged in collaborative dialogue and were provided with a framework that delineated best practices, exercise plans and procedures, and enhanced response readiness.

Ninety-one participants hailed from many local and international aid organizations and from the governments of Vanuatu, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Marshal Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia and the United States. The Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies representative was Dr. Deon Canyon, who presented two case studies on Severe Tropical Cyclone Heta in Niue and Tropical Cyclone Guba in Papua New Guinea with a focus on civil-military coordination and cooperation.

This 2016 Oceania DREE built on 2014-2015 exercises, namely Exercise Long Reach, the Papua New Guinea Inter-Agency Emergency Simulation Exercise and a prior Oceania DREE. After-action reviews resulted in the inclusion of references to the National Disaster Risk Management Plan, the Oslo Guidelines and Asia-Pacific Regional Guideline for the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Natural Disaster Response Operations (APC-MADRO).

The fictitious scenario involved a large cyclone impacting on Vanuatu’s capital city of Port Villa. The exercise focused on cyclone aftermath including damage assessment, food and water shortage, and flooding. The strategic and operational table-top discussions participants to work together to support a large-scale response and recovery program including establishing a command and control structure, communication, and delineation of roles and responsibilities. Emphasis was placed on the Vanuatu national disaster response plans and procedures, but issues were raised pertaining to international and regional responders and involvement of foreign military assistance.

During the after-action reviews, participants noted the perpetual need for:

• Maintaining operational viability when a disaster hits
• Rapid and accurate situational assessments by assessors trained to discuss sensitive issues
• Standardizing progress and assessment reports
• Information collection, management, storage and access
• Ensuring effective and nondiscriminatory distribution of aid
• Tracking of donations, relief supplies, resources and use of Logistics Capacity Assessment (LCA)
• Tracking all actions and progress indicators for coordination and accountability
• Reinforcing the agricultural sector through education, tools and diverse methodology
• Establishing partnerships to develop awareness of capacity and potential linkage
• Establishing relationships with the security sector and international militaries prior to disasters
• Identifying who will stand up local humanitarian clusters and aligning rogue NGOs
• Clarification of interagency coordination roles and responsibilities
• Improved agreements on how to use police and paramilitary presence
• Increased female security presence and deployment
• Having an exit strategy

The DREE theater security cooperation exercise furthers USARPACs commitment to be a responsive HADR partner in the event of an emergency when called upon by partners throughout the region. Its model of bringing together stakeholders from government, civil society and the military is essential to developing the capabilities needed to collaborate on a range of shared interests to ensure that disaster response occurs rapidly in a unified approach. The lessons learned during this experience will certainly be valuable in other parts of Oceania and the Pacific Theater. 

Cooper CE. Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange kicks off in Port Vila, Vanuatu. https://www.army.mil/article/172754/pacific_resilience_disaster_response_exe access Aug 2016.

World Risk Index. http://www.worldriskreport.org/fileadmin/WRB/PDFs_und_Tabellen/WRR_2015_engl_online.pdf accessed Jul 2016.