Incomplete list of links to seismic/natural disaster reports from around the Pacific Ring of Fire, days 01 to 05 of Gregorian January 2020.
AUSTRALIA: If you look at my past Pacific Ring of Fire postings you’ll realize that the U.S. and Aussie militaries conduct disaster training operations through out the year. The question I have is why does the deployment of the Aussie military, during these unprecedented fires, seem so ineffective?
Apparently humans should be blamed for the unprecedented fires because they were operating under the same bogus ‘save the forest’ mentality as the U.S.; don’t touch anything and let everything grow unchecked (the natives in the U.S. didn’t do that, that’s why the landscape seemed so pristine to the invading Europeans): There’s only one way to make bushfires less powerful: take out the stuff that burns
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison is now the modern day ‘Nero that fiddled while Rome burned’, regarding his slow response to the unprecedented wildfires (even being on vacation!) during the Gregorian month of December, 2019.
Three months prior, in September 2019, the U.S. Secretary of Defense ordered the Office of the Curator of Ship Models at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division to build PM Morrison a model of the USS Canberra, as a gift!
Apparently the USS (United States Ship) Canberra-LCS-30 (not to be confused with USS Canberra-CA-70) is named after the HMAS (His/Her Majesty’s Australian Ship) Canberra, which was sunk by the Japanese during World War Two.
The Office of the Curator of Ship Models at Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division was given short notice of the taxpayer funded build, only a few days, so they had to modify an existing model of the USS Independence-LCS-2.
Hope the Aussie PM is enjoying his U.S. taxpayer funded model boat.
Australia is part of the British empire, commonly known as The Commonwealth of Nations, or more simply The Commonwealth. This includes many countries that have falsely been reported as ‘gaining independence’. The current Queen of England is the boss.
“We are going to have to stop being the policemen of the world.”-Donald Trump, August 2015 interview with Hugh Hewitt
“They’re fighting for 1,000 years, they’re fighting for centuries. I want to bring our soldiers back home.”-President Donald Trump, October 2019, regarding U.S. occupation of Middle East
“This will not be a Benghazi………This will never, ever be a Benghazi!”-President Donald Trump, 07JAN2020
Video, U.S. Army AH-64 Apache overflies the BEC, 31DEC2019:
U.S. Marines work alongside contractors to install bullet resistant Kevlar panels at the BEC, 02JAN2020.
BEC means Base Education Center, but it also means Baghdad Embassy Compound.
Video, U.S. Marines (2nd Battalion, 7th Marines assigned to the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command) in Kuwait prep for emergency deployment to the BEC, 31DEC2019:
U.S. Marines upload on MV-22 Ospreys, heading for BEC, 31DEC2019.
This video, dated 31DEC2019, shows U.S. Marines deploying to the the BEC as it is under attack by Iraqis:
01JAN2020, protesters and militia inside the BEC.
01JAN2020, Marine checks out the rock strewn BEC.
01JAN2020, smoke from the homemade fire bombs tossed into the BEC the night before.
Iraqi security forces (driving black trucks & wearing red berets) talk with Iraqi militia members (wearing black uniforms) surrounding the BEC.
U.S. Army SAW gunner watches the action on the street outside of the BEC.
Iraqi counter terrorist units show up to ‘secure’ the BEC.USMC BEC Video, 02JAN2020:
Video, U.S. Army 82nd Airborne arrives in Kuwait from North Carolina, and then deploys to Iraq:
COLOMBIA: The Christmas Eve (western christian Gregorian calendar) gift from the Earth to the people of Colombia was a reminder of Earth’s immense power and destructive potential. A magnitude-6.2 earthquake struck near the town of Mesetas.
U.S. Joint Task Force-Bravo personnel and Panamanian forces joined for an emergency response and humanitarian assistance exercise in the Darien Province, called Exercise Mercury. Panama is a highly valued regional security partner to the U.S. and the only country in Central America with a humanitarian assistance hub.
SINGAPORE: U.S. taxes spent on a Humanitarian Assistance Response Training (HART) Course at the U.S. Navy’s Commander, Logistics Group Western Pacific Headquarters in Singapore. Also in attendance were the Canadians and Singaporeans.
01NOV2019, United Nations Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination Course training for Asia and the Pacific was conducted at the Navy Lodge, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
In a possible round-a-bout way of training for the Cascadia Event, personnel with the state Army National Guard were deployed to Bangladesh to take part in a five days Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE). The international training for a catastrophic earthquake is considered to be the biggest yet: “There are 20 different countries at this DREE which is great and that means just over 100 individual actual foreign participants which makes up more than 650 participants on opening day. It’s a long way from where we started and you can see the direct impact the DREE program has had over the years.”-Master Sergeant Robert Bentcliff, U.S. Army Pacific Command (USARPAC)
On 06NOV2019, U.S. Army and local EMTs conducted training in preparation for the catastrophic Cascadia Event. The Puget Sound Federal Coordinating Center National Disaster Medical System exercise was held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The training included loading mass-casualties onboard a USAF C-17 of the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron (shows you how bad the military thinks it’ll be).
In Northern Territory, the Australian military, along with U.S. Marines, trained for operation Crocodile Response, a bilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise in order to more rapidly respond to natural disasters and crises throughout the region.
South Korea Ministry of Environment’ K-water operations, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, work with NASA to develop satellite technology in the hopes of preventing future water disasters.
U.S. personnel from Osan Air Base respond to the aftermath of Typhoon Lingling, 07SEP2019.
UNITED STATES: FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) hints that its running out of money by telling people to save money to help pay for disaster expenses!
USMC video promoting 30SEP2019 deployment to Colombia, bragging about spending U.S. taxes to help the South American country prep for a major natural disaster:
Yet again, U.S. taxes going to send U.S. Marines to Central American countries for yet more natural disaster preps (in October):
Idaho; Idaho State University, working with Idaho National Laboratory and Center for Advanced Energy Studies, gets $1.1-million taxpayer funded grant to build first ever Disaster Response Complex. The goal is to train emergency responders in a realistic catastrophic environment with multiple scenarios such as earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, and even terrorist threats.
Health professionals representing 20 countries gathered for the 22nd annual Health Emergencies in Large Populations (H.E.L.P.) course in Honolulu, from September 9th-20th. It was hosted by Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the University of Hawai’i Office of Public Health Studies. The main goal is to create a common language, and procedures, between civilian and military emergency responders around the world.
Even though Mongolia is not a Pacific Rim country, the U.S. decided to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief ‘Pacific Resilience’ training in the Central Asian country, and ordered Oregon’s Army National Guard to participate.
“The normal infrastructure was completely down and therefore our team came in to do our quick assessment. The Bundeswehr came out and they’re getting assessed on what they do on their medical side.”-Specialist Christopher Wise, U.S. Army Europe
On 14SEP2019 Wackernheim, Germany, was rocked by a 6.2 earthquake. U.S. and German Soldiers hoisted casualties from the debris, evacuated them to a medical treatment area and rendered first aid.
For some reason Civil Air Patrol cadets went nuts, creating a chaotic environment by running through the streets and harassing the emergency responders!
Just kidding! It was part of NATO war game Cobra Strike 19. Here’s the boring official video explainer:
Here’s a slightly better video explainer:
Earthquakes are rare in Germany, but every now and then they have a big one. Seismicity in Germany
At Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, U.S. Navy SeaBees were recognized for their efforts to help with recovery after the July earthquakes.
In San Diego, the U.S. Navy conducted exercise Citadel Rumble, enlisting the help of Amateur Radio Emergency Service to test emergency radio communications between USN hospitals during natural disasters.