Today marks the fifth anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. The massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 destroyed half of the buildings and homes in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, killed more than a quarter million people, left more than 1.5 million people homeless, and resulted in an immense humanitarian crisis. The Louisiana National Guard and Haiti are partnered through The National Guards State Partnership Program. LANG has witnessed the fruits of its enduring relationship with the Haitian National Police and the Directorate of Civil Protection. LANG has conducted over 60 military-to-civilian engagements to support SOUTHCOM’s security cooperation objectives since partnership inception. Engagements have focused on supporting senior leadership visit, interoperability with international partners and NGOs, assisting in the development of emergency response capacity, and promoting respect for human rights. The National Guardsmen have exchanged ideas with their Haitian counterparts acquired during combat deployments as well as those learned through other disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response, 3,000 National Guardsmen assisted in the Gulf oil spill cleanup efforts. This deployment has given LANG solid experience to shares specialized expertise with Haitian counterparts including its processes for supporting the National Incident Command System and executing response efforts at all levels.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 19:08:41 +0000
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