The ninth annual Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE) 2019 co-hosted by Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), Armed Forces Division (AFD) and United States Army Pacific (USARPAC) was concluded on Thursday at Army Golf Club, Dhaka Cantonment, an ISPR press release said.Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, rcds, psc, Security Affairs Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina graced the closing ceremony as the Chief Guest while State Minister, Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief Dr. Md Enamur Rahman, MP was present as special guest. Chief of Army Staff General Aziz Ahmed, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Masihuzzaman Serniabat were also present. Ambassadors and Defence/Military Attaches of participating countries were present too, according to the press release. Main objectives of the exercise were to Test and enhance ability of managing earthquake disaster at City Corporation Level through establishment of Disaster Incident Management Team (DIMT) focusing SAR, communication(DRECS), medical, shelter, relief, etc. The exercise also tried to enhance knowledge and practice of international tools and services for integration of international system into national system.
The other objective of the exercise was to train divisional level planners/disaster coordinators (military and civilian), so that they can arrange similar exercise/training at divisional/local levels. More than 500 participants from 237 different organizations participated in DREE Bangladesh 2019. The number of participants was around 1200 during the FTX. Moreover, over 100 participants from more than 20 countries also joined this exercise, the release added.
