Antara News, Thursday, July 29, 2010 19:28 WIB
Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News) - The United States and Indonesian navies held a joint exercise on Wednesday on the handling of natural disasters in integrated ways, a spokesman said.
The exercise which involved about 40 personnel from the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), the United States Navy (USN) and Maluku`s Search and Rescue (SAR) team lasted one day, spokesman of the US hospital ship USNS Mercy T-H 19 for Pacific Partnership 2010 Affairs, Daniel Bernardi, said.
"This exercise is held to provide knowledge on how to handle a natural disaster in an integrated way because a natural disaster in one country is different from that in another one," Bernardi said.
So, he said, if a natural disaster happens in a country, rescue workers sent to help mitigate the victims can provide assistance effectively because they already know how to handle it.
He said the joint exercise was divided into two sessions, one was on theories organized at the office of the Maluku governor`s office while the other one was field practice.
Bernardi said that during the Sail Banda event, the Pacific Partership 2010 held a lot of exercises, among others in the health field, emergencies and other types of exercises.
"We call the exercise SMET (Subject Matter Expert Training) which sometimes involve Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and the United States," he said.
The USNS Mercy is in Maluku on a Pacific Partnership 2010 mission and to support Operation Surya Bhaskara Jaya which is part of the international yachting event, Sail Banda.
The Pacific Partnership 2010 is an annual humanitarian program of the United States consisting of exercises on the handling of natural disasters in Indonesia.
