At the biennial Exercise Rim of the Pacific, the world’s largest naval training exercise, disaster response operations are growing in scale and playing a prominent role. A task force of nine countries, led by the Japan Self-Defense Forces, has been conducting operations across the Hawaiian Islands practicing search-and-rescue operations, evacuations and medical treatment in partnership with local Hawaii hospitals, emergency agencies and volunteer organizations.
“In Japan, especially in the ‘ring of fire, ‘ we have lots of natural disasters, so that’s why we have a lot of experience—especially in Northeastern Japan, ” said Rear Adm. Kazushi Yokota of the Japan Maritime Defense Force, the officer in charge of humanitarian response operations at RIMPAC.
He recalled working with American forces in the real world when they assisted in the aftermath of the 2011 Pacific earthquake and tsunami that killed 19, 759 people, mostly in Japan. Yokota said, “We’ve got a lot of experience and lessons learned, so that’s why we’ve come here to share our knowledge and experience and operational ideas with other countries. And also, we can learn from other countries about their knowledge.”
RIMPAC is primarily a naval warfare exercise, but over the course of the past decade, humanitarian response training portions have grown larger.
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