{"id":308778,"date":"2019-09-26T06:06:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T20:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=308778"},"modified":"2019-09-26T06:06:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T20:06:42","slug":"tabletop-exercise-on-saipan-focuses-on-mass-rescue-ops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/tabletop-exercise-on-saipan-focuses-on-mass-rescue-ops\/","title":{"rendered":"Tabletop exercise on Saipan focuses on mass rescue ops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Members of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam and partners stand for a photo on Saipan on Sept. 18, 2019. The team coordinated a Mass Rescue Operations tabletop exercise for emergency responders to safeguard lives.
(U.S. COAST GUARD\/SECTOR GUAM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam coordinated a Mass Rescue Operation tabletop exercise for emergency responders on Saipan last Sept. 18. <\/p>\n

The day-long training, held at the CNMI Homeland Security Emergency Management Emergency Operations Center, brought together federal, local, public, and government agencies to exercise mass rescue operation capabilities. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to exercise the coordination of mass rescue operations with our partners,\u201d said Denise Cruz, Coast Guard Sector Guam emergency management specialist. \u201cThe exercise brought together local, federal, private, and non-governmental organizations to discuss procedures and techniques required to coordinate and execute a successful maritime search and rescue operation. Our number one priority is to save lives, and for that; we must understand each agency\u2019s capabilities. Getting to know who we work with and how to work together defines the term \u2018One Marianas.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
U.S. Coast Guard Station Apra Harbor participates in a coordinated a Mass Rescue Operations exercise for emergency responders on Saipan last Sept. 18, 2019.
(U.S. COAST GUARD\/SECTOR GUAM)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a result of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, the world\u2019s maritime nations developed a framework to promote minimum safety standards for merchant and passenger vessels. Coupled with that prevention effort is a response framework to support the effective rescue of multiple passengers and crew. As illustrated by the responders in this exercise, the operation extends to aviation in areas with coastal communities and high air traffic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest challenge for a MRO is the remoteness,\u201d said Lt. Cmdr. Victoria Saxon, Sector Guam emergency management\/force readiness chief. \u201cThroughout the region, we have many areas with limited response capabilities. It can be several hours or days for an air or surface asset to arrive on scene. That\u2019s why regional partnerships and the use of the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System, a volunteer commercial vessel search and rescue resource is so important.\u201d <\/p>\n

Participants worked across jurisdictions and authorities utilizing the Incident Command System to exercise operational and logistical response plans. The emergency operations center was activated during the exercise, just as it would be in a real event. <\/p>\n

Federal, state, military, and civilian emergency responders from CNMI and Guam participated in a day long course led by the U.S. Coast Guard. <\/p>\n

Participating agencies included: <\/p>\n

\u2022 CNMI Homeland Security Emergency Management <\/p>\n

\u2022 CNMI Customs <\/p>\n

\u2022 United Airlines <\/p>\n

\u2022 American Red Cross<\/p>\n

\u2022 Federal Aviation Administration <\/p>\n

\u2022 Pacific Oriental Inc. Aviation <\/p>\n

\u2022 T\u2019way Air Co.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Asiana Airlines Inc. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Commonwealth Ports Authority <\/p>\n

\u2022 Airport Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting <\/p>\n

\u2022 Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services <\/p>\n

\u2022 Marianas Visitors Authority <\/p>\n

\u2022 Saipan Marine Dive Co. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Department of Public Safety <\/p>\n

\u2022 Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality <\/p>\n

\u2022 Commonwealth Health Care Corp. <\/p>\n

\u2022 CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife <\/p>\n

\u2022 Transportation Security Administration <\/p>\n

\u2022 U.S. Navy, Joint Region Marianas <\/p>\n

\u2022 Coast Guard 14th District and Coast Guard Sector Guam<\/p>\n

\u201cThis joint service and multi-agency exercise with our partners in the CNMI was an excellent opportunity to maximize our combined readiness to respond to mass rescue operations throughout the region,\u201d said Cmdr. Joshua Empen, deputy sector commander, Coast Guard Sector Guam. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam coordinated a Mass Rescue Operation tabletop exercise for emergency responders…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-308778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}