Mongolia and America exchange experiences on disaster management

Mongolia and America exchange experiences on disaster management. A bilateral disaster response exercise “Gobi Wolf” designed to increase emergency response and management in Mongolia is being held this week. The "Gobi Wolf" has been held annually since 2009 being focused on improving the Mongolian government's emergency response and collaboration with other countries during natural and man-made disasters. The Gobi Wolf exercise consists of a multiple-level reaction to a hypothetical critical event.

The Disaster Response Exercise enlisted the Chinghis Khan Airport and a local hospital to take part in the exercise with the focus on improving the coordinated response to an occurrence of an earthquake in the Ulaanbaatar region, including the planning and organization of the several governmental agencies, as well as its coordination of expected international assistance.

The exercise started with a “table-top” exercise aimed to facilitate recognition of adversity and difficulty in performing an agency’s assigned tasks while dealing with the physical consequences of an earthquake. Then 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. The exercise will complete with a day of actions analysis and recommendations for improved agency cooperation will be concluded with an After Action Review.