World Food Programme's Humanitarian Airlift Operations Across the Asia-Pacific

London, United Kingdom, March 31, 2016 --(PR.com)-- In July and August 2015 Myanmar suffered the worst landslides and flooding in recent decades after unusually heavy monsoon rains, and exposure to Cyclone Komen, which passed by the country’s southern coast. More than 9 million people have been affected in 12 of the country’s 14 states and regions, with the loss of homes, livelihoods, crops and food stocks. Following an official request for assistance from the Government of Myanmar, the World Food Programme (WFP) initiated a rapid emergency response on 2 August, less than 48 hours after the declaration of a national disaster by the President of Myanmar. In collaboration with the government, other UN agencies and non-governmental partners, WFP has met immediate food and nutrition needs of more than 455,000 people in the worst flood-hit areas by the end of emergency phase. Flood affected people received a one-month ration of rice, pulses, cooking oil, salt and in some cases, a week’s supply of high energy biscuits. (Source: WFP.org, 1 Jan 2016, ‘Myanmar: Five Months After The Floods’)

Against this backdrop, SMi is proud to announce that Nate Nathanson, Head of Civil-Military Cooperation Asia-Pacific and Thomas Thompson, Civil-Military Cooperation Asia-Pacific at the World Food Programme will be leading a presentation titled 'World Food Programme's (WFP) Humanitarian Airlift Operations Across the Asia-Pacific'. Their session will cover the following key points:
• An outline of the WFP’s capabilities and delivery
• Recent case studies of humanitarian airlift in the region and examples of civil-military cooperation
- Nepal earthquake
- Natural disasters in the Phillipines
• Consistent challenges faced and how these are overcome
• How the WFP will expand assets, enhance capabilities and improve the response in future years

- International cooperation
SMi's Humanitarian Airlift and Disaster Response Asia-Pacific conference, taking place on 23rd - 24th May 2016 in Singapore, will provide updates on capabilities and requirements from national militaries for humanitarian operations, detailing how civil-military cooperation is enhancing the NGO response to regional humanitarian disasters. Furthermore, the two-day programme will also address what is being done to overcome the key challenges of humanitarian logistics and what role innovative technologies have to play in enhancing the disaster response. These topics will be addressed by military speakers, civil-military coordinators, regional logistic experts and disaster response organisations, therefore bringing together all key regional stakeholders for disaster response exercises.

The 2016 speaker panel features:
• Lieutenant General Amnat Barlee, Director, Thai Red Cross Society
• Air Commodore Richard Lennon CSC, Commander Air Mobility Group, RAAF Base Richmond
• Colonel Reinhard Krell, Director, Movement Coordination Centre Europe
• Colonel Douglas DeLaMater, Commander, 374th Airlift Wing, US Air Force
• Shirish Ravan, Head, UN-SPIDER Beijing Office, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA)
• Greg Elliott, Deputy Executive Director, Australian Civil Military Centre
• Nate Nathanson, Head of Civil-Military Cooperation Asia-Pacific, World Food Programme

To view the full speaker line-up and conference programme, visit http://www.humanitarian-airlift-apac.com/prcom

Plus, don't miss three interactive post-conference workshops taking place on 25th May 2016:
A: Learning and Assessing Operational Lessons which can build Partnership Capacity
Hosted by: Dr Jennifer Moroney, Director, RAND Australia | 08.30 - 12.30
B: Identifying Challenges to Multi-agency Coordination and how to Optimise Humanitarian Airlift in Disaster Response
Hosted by: Greg Elliott, Deputy Executive Director, Australian Centre for Civil Military Coordination | 08.30 - 12.30
C: Ensuring Airlift Capabilities for Disaster Response Across Asia-Pacific
Hosted by: Lieutenant Colonel Hans van de Ven, Executive Director, Movement Coordination Centre Europe | 13:00 - 16:00
Benefits of attending:
• Attend a unique event focused on civil-military operations in disaster response
• Discuss how to increase efficiency in humanitarian logistics to better impact the disaster response effort
• Listen to high level updates from regional organisations on effective civil-military cooperation to enhance disaster response
• Understand how military assets help overcome the key challenges in regional disaster response
• Hear about new technologies and modern methods used to optimise disaster response