FAHUM 2009 Humanitarian Assistance Exercise

Over 100 military and civilian officials from Canada to Chile met in St. Kitts, April 2009, to participate in the culmination of Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarias (FAHUM), a two-week disaster preparedness exercise that was executed in five countries of the Caribbean and Central America. The FAHUM 2009 scenarios included an earthquake in Antigua and Barbuda; a Tsunami in Grenada; collapsed structures as a result of extensive flooding and riverine search and rescue missions in flooded coastal areas in Costa Rica; and massive mud slides caused by hurricanes and flash floods in Honduras. Working together with disaster assistance experts from neighboring countries, locals worked to save lives during simulation exercises that have real-life applications throughout the Caribbean and Central America.

In his opening remarks during the after action review, Co-Director Col. Patrick Wallace, Commander of the St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force said, FAHUM is an annually sponsored SOUTHCOM exercise that is conducted in Latin America and the Caribbean with the whole aim of exercising regional sponsored entities and civil defense units in disaster response operations. It allows people from the various countries to work together and to exchange our best practices in disaster planning.

As Exeucitve Agent of FAHUM 2009, U.S. Army South was heavily involved in the behind-the-scenes planning to ensure the successful execution of this premier regional exercise. FAHUM Co-Director Col. Ehrich Rose, from U.S. Army South, reminded the conference attendees that One of the things we focused on this year was the Pandemic Influenza. He said that life imitates art when referring to the recent health advisory about the swine flu that recently surfaced in Mexico.

The video was shot by Kaye Richey, and Stuart Warner performs the stand-up spokesperson for U.S. Army South.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• FAHUM 2009 Costa Rica
• FAHUM 2009 St. Kitts
• Stuart Warner
• Kaye Richey
• Stuart G.R. Warner
• Stuart G.R. Warner W.
• Humanitarian Assistance
• U.S. Army South
• SOUTHCOM
• U.S. Southern Command
• Public Affairs Office
• AFRICOM