Preparedness

Responders to natural disasters face increasingly complex operating environments, characterised by new challenges and new actors. Global trends that are overwhelming the international humanitarian system come into sharp focus in South-East Asia.

In August 2014, the United Nations (UN) Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the West African subregion a ‘threat to international peace and security’. The UN’s request for assistance from member states resulted in the mobilisation of technical expertise, medical capacity, humanitarian assistance, and military and civil defence assets.

Over the past two decades, Australia has accumulated considerable experience with whole-of-government missions in complex environments, including in the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.