Introduction

From July 12-20, 2023, the US Pacific Army (USARPAC) hosted the South Asia Regional Disaster Response Exercise Exchange at the Guam National Guard Readiness Center in Barrigada, Guam.

Within the US Department of Defense, combatant commands are increasingly called upon to engage in humanitarian assistance / disaster relief (HA/DR). For instance, USARPAC through the US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), is responsible for coordinating Disaster Response Exercise & Exchanges (DREEs) under the “Unity of Effort” banner, of which this event was one. DREEs are multilateral and multinational coordination, communication, and cooperation exercises between USARPAC and partner nation armed forces, and emergency responders. USARPAC invited partner institutions to engage in disaster response training for relevant actors in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and the Maldives. As part of the program, Pacific Forum International arranged training in Women, Peace and Security (WPS) principles for the participants on July 13 and 14, 2023. Steve Recca of Pacific Disaster Center led training on July 13, and Ambika Vishwanath and Priyanka Bhide of the Kubernein Initiative, India, led training on July 14. The four participating countries sent about 70 participants, mostly from disaster response services, and of them, 20 participated in the two-day WPS training, including:

5 from Bangladesh
7 from the Maldives
4 from Nepal, and
4 from Sri Lanka