Weekly News Roundup: First Responders

One disaster after another seems to be hitting the Pacific Ocean area. We’ve been following emergency relief efforts as the military tries to aid those hit by Typhoons Parma and Melor, Tropical Storm Ketsana, as well as the earthquake in Indonesia and the tsunami it spawned that hit American Samoa. With so many relief operations occurring simultaneously, it is important to know how we’re using our forces and what resources have been most valuable.

As humanitarian disaster become more frequent, DoD has been more cognizant of the new role that it plays in responding to those victimized regions. They have launched a separate section of their website to chronicle relief efforts by gathering news stories and photos of disaster-struck communities. Meanwhile, Foreign Policy has wondered what impact disaster-relief missions will have on the role of the U.S. military in the Pacific. They argue that disasters are a prime opportunity to help others and create a positive image for the United States abroad.  This will require considering humanitarian efforts when outfitting military units. For example, helicopters for search and rescue and large transport planes for relief delivery were particularly useful in American Samoa. Having skilled medical personnel and troops ready to deploy for search and rescue missions was also deemed highly useful by locals. Back in the States, DoD has raised awareness of its activities with outreach like the bloggers rountable with U.S. Navy CDR Matthew Ovios that we covered here this week. CDR Ovios is the commanding officer of the USS Ingraham which responded to the tsunami in American Samoa. 

The chart at the bottom has been compiled from military news reports made available from the Defense Department, including the Army Times and DoD News, and is only a sampling of these missions. It is apparent that the Navy, Air Force, and Marines are all participating in relief efforts, in addition to the Coast Guard and the Army National Guard. To be clear, this chart only includes the military components of the U.S. disaster relief efforts. In fact, most physical supplies for troops were provided by the military (for a good look at supplies used in relief efforts see our previous post). Needless to say, the physical cost-outlays the military has made as well as the opportunity-cost of responding to disasters like this are substantial.