ACMC joined counterparts from PNG, Australia and the United States to exchange knowledge, solve problems and build enduring relationships during a four-day disaster management workshop in Port Moresby as part of Ex Pacific Partnership 2025.
Royal Australian Air Force officer Flight Lieutenant Emily Chapman, of the Australian Civil-Military Centre, said the workshop focussed on how various agencies could work together effectively in responding to a major oil spill.
“Often we find during disaster responses, relationships are key to effective communication and coordination,” FLTLT Chapman said.
“These workshops are critical in building those connections to local leadership and to local knowledge that is then used during disaster response.
“It is critical to build shared preparedness and capacity to respond, and that includes informing people how to request international assistance and then how international assistance is integrated into their local and national plans and structures.”
PNG’s National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) Marine Environment Protection manager Pawa Limu said while PNG was prepared with the right equipment to respond to a major oil spill in the region, the past experience of partners in reacting to these events would help shape an effective response.
“Our friends from Australia and the US, they have responded to major incidences and they have shared with us what difficulties they have gone through, such as communication barriers in responding to incidents in other countries,” Mr Limu said.
“We’ve learnt a lot in the event that something happens and we can now organise and put in place something so that our international partners can come in and work with us.
Facilitated by the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, the workshop included studying past responses to oil spills in the region, examining and understanding the governance around disaster response in PNG, planning for future potential occurrences, a site visit to examine NMSA’s response equipment, and tabletop exercises to test current systems and understanding.
Exercise Pacific Partnership 2025 is the US Navy’s largest annual humanitarian assistance and disaster relief mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific region.
