Crisis Updates from the Region

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Terrorist Attack Rocks Maldives

By |2021-05-11T14:30:46-10:00May 11th, 2021|

By Lt. Col. Hassan Amir * An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack targeted against the Speaker of the People’s Majlis (Parliament), former President Mohamed Nasheed was conducted on the evening of 6 May 2021 in the capital city, Male.’ The incident occurred at approximately 20:27 hrs, near his private residence as President Nasheed was about to enter his vehicle, en-route to a private event. As President Nasheed and his Personal Security Officer (PSO) and security team walked towards the car, the IED, which had been placed under the seat of a motorcycle parked on the side of the narrow lane exploded. [...]

Beirut Blast

By |2020-10-09T12:50:28-10:00October 9th, 2020|

Ziad Jalbout, LCOL, Lebanese Armed Forces, I would like to express again and again my appreciation for the Comprehensive Crisis Management (CCM) course I had the chance to attend at DKI APCSS.  It was extremely informative and I was able to develop deep knowledge in how to deal with crises. But, what I didn't expect, directly after the course, was to face a disruptive and unexpected crisis, exactly the way the course defined it. I am talking about the Beirut Blast that happened on August 4, 2020. During the CCM course, we talked a lot about crises in the Far East [...]

Update from Sri Lanka

By |2020-06-09T15:40:59-10:00June 9th, 2020|

By Admiral Jayanath Colombage With a total population of 22 million and a land area of 65000 square km, the island of Sri Lanka was monitoring the developing situation regarding the spread of Coronavirus, or Covid -19. The President immediately established a National Action Committee to implement health measures to prevent the spread of deadly Coronavirus in Sri Lanka. This was one of the first in our region and done on January 26, 2020 when the news of the virus spreading in Wuhan in China came to light. These preemptive measures were established well ahead of our region being impacted by the Coronavirus. The Action Committee consisted of the Minister of Health as the chair, secretaries of health, defence [...]

Solomon Islands Coast Watchers 20/20 Program

By |2020-05-18T16:18:57-10:00May 18th, 2020|

By Joseph Manelugu The Royal Solomon Island Police Force is working in partnership with other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to fight against the current spread of COVID-19. We are concentrating on blocking our western border with Bougainville, which is the eastern-most island chain of Papua New Guinea. As an Assistant Commissioner for Provincial policing, I have been appointed as the commander for border operations. With assistance from a New Zealand advisor, we initiated a program called COAST WATCHERS 20/20. The purpose of this program is to work together with stakeholders and communities to watch our coasts for incoming foreign vessels, [...]

Arrival of COVID-19 in Myanmar

By |2020-04-10T16:59:12-10:00April 10th, 2020|

By: Professor Chaw Chaw Sein, Ph.D. (CSRT 18-1) During my life time, I have personally experienced several massive political crises, such as 1988 students’ uprising which began at the University of Yangon where I now teach, the “Saffron Revolution” initiated by Buddhist monks for democratization in 2007, and of course, the on-going ethnic armed conflicts. I had lived through crises created by mother-nature such as Cyclone Nargis of 2008 and the major floods/landslides of 2015. During the outbreaks of SARS and H1N1, Myanmar was not spared and today it has become the latest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of our [...]

 Maldives Battles COVID-19

By |2020-04-10T16:55:22-10:00April 10th, 2020|

By:  Hassan Amir (CA 17-1 SSD in the Indian Ocean WS) Maldives reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on Mar. 7, when foreign tourists who had been vacationing in Maldives became symptomatic. Since the initial case was reported, we have had 19 confirmed cases by Apr. 5. This includes three locals who had been under quarantine upon returning from United Kingdom. There have not been any COVID-19 related deaths, and 13 patients have fully recovered. With the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, Maldives started taking decisive steps to prepare for the public health crisis. The Ministry of Health [...]

We Call it Panic, The World Calls It Preparedness

By |2020-04-10T16:45:31-10:00April 3rd, 2020|

By: Shazia Haris In a crisis, no one person is Aristotle, and it’s OK to build a team and learn. That is how we convert adversity into opportunity. It was a warm day of July 2015 in Hawaii, when we Fellows of the Crisis Management Course at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) role-played, handling a health epidemic with potential to be pandemic in South Asia.  To our utter surprise we as crisis managers had to communicate with Border Control Forces, the Health Minister, National Security Officers, the Police, the Fire Department, the Finance Ministry, the [...]

Response to COVID-19 in South Asia

By |2020-04-06T09:10:58-10:00April 1st, 2020|

By: Binoj Basnyat (ASC 11-2) The world has become more unpredictable with the COVID-19 pandemic and the losses it is causing. Nation states focus on their measures and regional intergovernmental organizations look for collective efforts while the World Health Organization vigorously works to provide answers. Whether interagency, political level of governance, bilateral, multilateral or global; rapid action and cooperation and coordination are the key to tackle and control COVID-19. Indian PM Modi asked the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to face the pandemic challenge. The SAARC leaders’ virtual interaction provided information on measures and internal preparedness as well as [...]

One Word from Nepal

By |2020-03-31T15:53:55-10:00March 31st, 2020|

BG (R) Suresh Sharma (EC 06-3) At this moment all citizen of world are in panic, as continue to great chaos arise in the hard hit places of earth due to the Covid- 19. It is an unprecedented natural disaster. Nepal lies between two biggest populations of the world is also definitely in a fear that it may not spare us at one time later. Nepal is thankful that it is controlled in Wuhan but much concerned for the unchecked outbreak in new countries, new cases in India and more crises in Italy, Spain US and others. The nights and days [...]

Philippines

By |2020-03-31T15:35:54-10:00March 31st, 2020|

Richard Siga-an (EC05-2)  The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the resilience of the Philippines and her resolve to cope. A common action is quarantine or community locked-down to prevent people from roaming around and spreading the virus. While lock-down is seen as closing the borders, it actually could be viewed as a unifying factor among political entities in inter-state or intra-state relationships.   The armed services were tapped to either lead or support the implementation of lock-down. There is an Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), headed by the President and the Secretary of Health and the armed services are part of it.       At the moment, the Philippines immediate problem in the community lock-down is logistics and the President has delegated the power to source logistical requirements to local government units. The IATF is encouraging self-quarantine for those persons under investigation and monitoring of the possible [...]

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