Opening ceremony kicks Off Disaster Management Exercise Gobi Wolf 2015

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Gobi Wolf, a bilateral disaster response exercises, designed to increase emergency response and management in Mongolia, started Tuesday at the Chinggis Hotel. The opening ceremony of the exercises, which will run March 24-27, was chaired by Brigadier-General T.Badral, a head of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA); Pacific MG Gregory C.Bilton, the Deputy Commander of U.S. Army; Kirk McBride, the Deputy Chief of U.S. Mission to Mongolia; B.Uuganbayar, the NEMA Disaster Preparedness Department Director. The Gobi Wolf exercises consist of a multiple-level reaction to a hypothetical critical event. The Disaster Response Exercises and Exchange is primarily between the U.S. government and the Mongolian National Emergency Management Agency, which enlisted the Chinggis Khaan Airport and a local hospital to take part in the exercise. The exercises, focused on improving the coordinated response to an occurrence of an earthquake in the Ulaanbaatar region, includes the planning and organization of the several agencies of the Government of Mongolia, as well as its coordination of expected international assistance. There are three phases. First, a “table-top” exercise will facilitate recognition of adversity and difficulty in performing an agency’s assigned tasks while dealing with the physical consequences of an earthquake. Second, a two-part field training exercise will replicate, at a small level, the demands of a disaster response situation at the airport and at the selected hospital. Finally, a day of actions analysis and recommendations for improved agency cooperation will be concluded with an After Action Review. Participants in this year’s Gobi Wolf Exercise include the National Emergency Management Agency; United States agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Pacific, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and international agencies including the World Food Program, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the United Nations’ International Children’s Emergency Fund.