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CLACKAMAS, OREGON - More than 60 individuals from various state, federal and government organization worked together at the Oregon National Guard unit, here, on how they need respond to natural disasters, Oct. 30 – Nov. 4.
State emergency coordinators along with members from Federal Emergency Management Agency – Region X and representatives from Department of Defense collocate to respond in times of disaster.
In the exercise scenario, an 8.0 earthquake shook the northwest coastline generating a tsunami, which resulted in more than 35-hundred dead and another 20-thousand sustaining injuries. The governor of Oregon activated more than 6,000 of the state’s National Guard members. Each member works to game plan what is needed to aid the local populace.
“Any type of catastrophic disaster response will require DoD assistants, there’s no way out of it,” said Dolph A. Diemont, Federal Coordinating Officer, FEMA, Region X. “They [DoD] bring in capabilities that none of the other federal offices bring.
It is important for these teams to come together, learn how each agency functions and how they conduct business.
“Without the opportunity to train together - there’s a steep learning curve,” said Diemont. “The acronyms are different, the federal response incident action planning process is different than what the military uses, and all of our forms and reporting procedures are different. We come together in an exercise and practice the process that aligns all of us so that we can work together as a team. That’s one part of it, the other is building relationships before the disaster hits.”
These exercises gear toward taking lessons learned from past trainings and applying them to new training, which changes the course of the future of being able to help Americans in need.
“We are better prepared to respond and assist in your [American people] recovery – respond and recover- as a result of this exercise. The more we do and the more we invest our time into things like this, the public benefits tremendously.”
The exercise is overseen by a group of observer and controllers who are responsible for making sure the incoming Defense Coordinating Officer and the Element is trained upon his or her arrival to the region they are responsible for. This group knows the importance of this training.
“First and foremost, it [training] provides the new DCO, within 90 days of his or her arrival, with an opportunity to train with all team members, Army North and NORTHCOM staff augmentees, Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers, and regional partners that he would potentially respond with,” said Mike Weimer, Chief, DCO Synchronization Team, who serves as the Exercise Director and trainer. “The exercise design replicates a FEMA Interim Operating Facility conducting response operations, and provides an opportunity for the whole team to see and practice and train on all of the processes and systems the DCO/E would use.”
The exercise is also an opportunity for any new DCE member, or Army North key staff members to become trained. It's an opportunity to try out new concepts and processes, and many lessons learned and best practices emerge from them.
Coming together in a training environment helps these teams learn, build and understand what they need to do for the American people when disaster hits.
“The DCO's are highly experienced and trained, and work in a very complex environment of local, state, federal and DoD procedures and processes,” said Weimer. “The DCE is also a nine person highly trained team that is rapidly augmented to respond on little notice and validate DoD capabilities into lifesaving and sustaining operations.”
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| Date Taken: | 11.04.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.09.2016 17:15 |
| Story ID: | 214296 |
| Location: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 70 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army North Soldiers Train for Natural Disaster Response in Oregon, by SFC Shelman Spencer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
