Lessons from Department of Defense disaster relief efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region
By: Jennifer D. P. Moroney, Stephanie Pezard, Laurel E. Miller, Jeffrey Engstrom, Abby Doll
Series: Report -- RR-146-OSD
Publisher: RAND Corporation; Ran
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Santa Monica, CA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 146
ISBN-13: 9780833080431
Subjects: Case studies; Armed Forces; Civic action; Disaster relief; Evaluation; Rules and practice; Humanitarian assistance; Emergency management; Integrated operations (Military science); United States. Department of Defense; United States
Other titles: Lessons from DoD support to foreign disasters in the Asia-Pacific Region
Description: The Department of Defense has long been able to play a major role in international humanitarian assistance and disaster response (HA/DR) due to its unique capabilities, manpower, and forward-deployed resources. The Asia-Pacific region is of particular importance to the United States because it bears the brunt of more than half of the world⁰́₉s natural disasters and is home to numerous key U.S. allies. In an effort to improve the effectiveness of HA/DR operations in the future, this report analyzes recent operations in Burma, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Japan, and identifies lessons that have emerged in the areas of (1) interagency coordination, (2) communication with the affected country, (3) coordination with other state and non-state actors, (4) prospects for U.S. security cooperation and building partner capacity for HA/DR, and (5) prospects for the increased involvement of regional organizations in HA/DR. This report also identifies complementary capabilities and comparative advantages that exist around the region, presents options for leveraging these capabilities to deal with future disasters, and assesses various crisis management mechanisms involving allies and partners that can be applied to other contingencies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-146).