On May 26-27, instructors from CFE-DMHA and U.S. Pacific Command held a Civil-Military Emergency Preparedness Senior Leader Seminar (SLS) Workshop in Ulaanbaatar. Sixteen leaders from eight organizations and agencies of the Government of Mongolia attended the SLS workshop, including representatives from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF).
Activities from the first day included NEMA presentations about the revisions to the Mongolian laws and standard operating procedures for disaster response and presentations on analyses from previous disaster preparedness assessment activities. The second day included discussion of case studies on earthquakes in other locations and ongoing response to Nepal’s recent tremors. Participants noted that the presentations provided information critical to developing Mongolia’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response programs.
“The case studies are very valuable,” said Lt. Col. A. Baljinnyam of the MAF, who participated in the U.S.-Mongolia civil-military Exercise Gobi Wolf, an annual disaster preparedness and response initiative that includes governmental, nongovernmental, municipal and military agencies across Mongolia, the U.S. and international relief agencies. Oyunbileg Naiden, a specialist from the Mongolian Ministry of Health and Sports commented, “The concept of operations template that was provided during the course is very helpful.”
World Vision’s Mongolia personnel also attended the SLS and expressed interest in resolving coordination gaps between the Government of Mongolia organizations and the civilian and nongovernment organizations bodies in crisis response.
