HAWAII, Nov. 25 (Chinamil) -- On the afternoon of November 21 local time, the U.S.-China Disaster Management Exchange 2019, a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exchange jointly conducted by the two countries, concluded with a great success at the Kilauea military camp on the Big Island of Hawaii,USA.
Around 1 p.m. that day, the Chinese and U.S. militaries held the closing ceremony, at which participants watched short documentary videos of the exchange and those with remarkable performance during the exchange were commended.
Starting from the afternoon of November 18, participants from both sides carried out the table-top exchange and field exchange as scheduled. Heads of observation delegations from two sides, deputy commander of Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command Xu Qiling and Commander of the U.S. Army Pacific Paul J. LaCamera, observed and guided the training on the spot.
During the table-top exchange, the two sides set up three simulated institutions, including a multinational coordination center led by the fictious disaster-stricken country, and the Chinese and U.S. military operation commands. Among them, the coordination center consisted of three groups responsible for planning, coordination and assessment, respectively. The Chinese and U.S. military operation commands each set up eight posts responsible for organizing and planning, operation control, commanding and communications, etc.
The table-top exchange is characterized by improvised deployments and participants weren’t informed of relevant settings in advance. Moreover, the exchange included subjects for the two militaries on how to determine their respective task boundary in humanitarian disaster relief, formulate and assess relevant rescue plans, and coordinate their relief operations. It aimed to explore the communication and coordination mechanism for joint disaster relief operations between the two militaries.
During the field exchange, both sides focused on 23 items in five categories, including environment evaluation, searching and rescuing, medical assistance, harmful and dangerous matters testing and decontamination, and victim resettlement. Participants carried out the drill following the process of assessment, rescue, medical assistance, decontamination and resettlement in the ways of mixed grouping, respective demonstration, and rotation operation. Officers and soldiers of both sides conducted training and exchange in terms of equipment, technology, operational procedures, and disaster relief experience, enhancing their capacity of responding to disasters through joint operations in the field of international rescue.
Military experts from both countries formed a joint assessment group to track and evaluate the results of the exchange. According to the assessment report issued by the group at the closing ceremony, the two militaries explored measures in joint disaster relief with focus on wildfire rescue and demonstrated tight-knit organization, deep communication and smooth coordination. The exchange achieved expected results, the report said.
On the morning of November 21, the U.S. side demonstrated training subjects such as rescue in small spaces, first aid for the wounded, and helicopter transport of victims for the observation delegations and participants of the exchange.
