Navy increases its participation in Pacific Partnership 2010
12 Jul 2010
HMA Ships Labuan and Tarakan have joined United States Naval Ship (USNS) Mercy in the Maluku Islands, Indonesia for a ten week mission in three host nations, providing essential ship to shore logistics as part of Pacific Partnership 2010 (PP10).
Both crews are excited to participate in the exercise and looking forward to working in such a large multi-national team said Lieutenant (LEUT) Steven Noakes, Commanding Officer HMAS Labuan.
“We are joining a team of 1000 people from seven countries in the conduct of a disaster relief exercise. There will be teams ashore hosting medical and dental clinics as well as conducting engineering repairs to local buildings,” said LEUT Noakes.
The PP10 visit to Indonesia is a two phase disaster relief exercise which commenced in Jakarta in November 2009. A table-top exercise scenario dealing with a natural disaster in the region was the first phase during which the multi-national team discussed plans to effectively employ USNS Mercy, KRI Dr. Soeharso and other ships’ from the international community, including HMA Ships Labuan and Tarakan.
“We are here now to conduct the practical phase of the exercise. Working with so many nations will provide us with an opportunity to benchmark our standards of training and enhance our capacity to respond in times of a real natural disaster,” said LEUT Noakes.
“The crews are looking forward to getting ashore to assist with community service projects and meeting both members of the wider Pacific Partnership team as well as the local people in the famous Spice Islands,” said LEUT Kevin Whatling, Commanding Officer HMAS Tarakan.
Pacific Partnership 2010 is the fifth in a series of annual U.S. Pacific Fleet endeavors conducted in Indonesia as a disaster relief exercise aimed at strengthening regional partnerships and increasing interoperability with host nations, partner nations, U.S. interagency groups, and international humanitarian and relief organizations, as well as building capability to respond to a natural disaster.
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