Most Geographic Combatant Commands Effectively Planned and Executed Disaster Relief Operations, but Improvements Could Be Made.

摘要

Our objective was to evaluate the ability of the combatant commands (COCOMs) to plan and execute disaster relief operations to prevent instability in their areas of responsibility (AORs). However, we focused our fieldwork on evaluating the planning and execution of foreign disaster relief (FDR)1 operations by U.S. European (USEUCOM), Central (USCENTCOM), Southern (USSOUTHCOM), Pacific (USPACOM), and Africa (USAFRICOM) Commands to alleviate the suffering of foreign disaster victims. We also assessed the support provided by DoD organizations to enable the COCOMs to effectively conduct those operations. See the appendix for the scope and methodology and prior coverage related to the objective. In recent years, DoD has had an increased role in FDR operations, particularly during Operation Unified Response in response to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and Operation Tomodachi in response to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011. Because of its assets and capabilities, the U.S. military will continue to be called upon to provide aid and assistance in the event of disasters like the Pakistan flooding in 2010 and the Turkey earthquake in 2011. Military assets should be requested only when there is no comparable civilian alternative and only when the use of military assets can meet a critical humanitarian need. Therefore, the DoD assistance provided must be unique in capability and availability.