The 5-day Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE), the largest earthquake disaster exercise in the Asia Pacific region, started simultaneously in Dhaka and Rangpur on Sunday. Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, Armed Forces Division (AFD) and United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) are jointly hosting the event which is being conducted in Bangladesh since 2010, an ISPR press release said.
The exercise will be conducted from 27 October to 31 October. The theme of this year’s Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange is Resilience through Preparedness. Dr. Md Enamur Rahman, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief attended the opening ceremony as the chief guest. Main objectives of this exercise are: testing and enhancing own ability of managing earthquake disaster at city corporation level through establishment of disaster incident management team (DIMT) focusing SAR, communication, medical, shelter, relief, enhance knowledge and practice of international tools and services for integration of international system into national system and train divisional level planners and disaster coordinators so that they can arrange similar exercise and training at divisional and local level.
There will be a series of presentations experts. This session will set the scene for Table Top Exercise (TTX). In the 3rdday, an earthquake scenario in Bangladesh will be depicted. Participants will be divided into various functional groups for TTX. The TTX will be focused to bring out the challenges and recommendations for strengthening various disaster management frameworks as a whole and Disaster Incident Management Team (DIMT) in particular.
All theoretical discussions during TTX will be exercised through a massive Field Training Exercise on the 4th day which is planned in city’s Bashundhara Residential Area.
During FTX, personnel will be deployed in the field to test operational efforts associated with earthquake response. All stakeholders for earthquake management will be integrated in the exercise. Major events of the FTX will include search and rescue, fire fighting, aero-medical evacuation, logistics management, camp management and human remains management.
On the last day of the exercise, there will be after action review, based on various functions. The exercise will end with the closing ceremony. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend the closing ceremony as the chief guest. Md. Tajul Islam, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development will observe the FTX as the chief guest.
More than 500 participants from 237 different organizations will participate in the DREE Bangladesh 2019. The number of participants will be around 1200 during the FTX. Moreover, over 100 participants from more than 20 countries are also joining in the exercise. Such exercise will enhance earthquake disaster management of Bangladesh and also improve regional cooperation for disaster response as a whole.
