Background

Launched on 12 September 2014, the Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Coordination Centre (RHCC) is situated at the Changi Command and Control Centre (CC2C), Singapore. Other than day-to-day monitoring in its operations centre, the Changi RHCC also leverages the facilities available at the CC2C for large-scale multinational operations and exercises. The RHCC will:

•     • Facilitate military-to-military coordination in HADR, focusing on supporting the disaster affected state's military in coordinating assistance provided by foreign militaries.
•     • Support and complement other existing mechanisms such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), which focus on supporting a disaster-affected state's national disaster management authorities in coordinating the overall relief effort.

RHCC's Operations

Day-to-Day Monitoring and Assessment. The Changi RHCC regularly monitors and shares information on regional disasters. Prior to predictable events such as a typhoon, or at the onset of non-predictable events such as earthquakes, the Changi RHCC will:

•     • Fuse information from various sources, including the disaster-affected state's national disaster management authorities, regional disaster and early warning centres;
•     • Distribute the situation picture to the partner militaries through its OPERA Computer Information System (CIS) web-portal, to allow partner militaries to prepare their response mechanisms; and
•     • Depending on the likely severity and impact of the disaster, the Changi RHCC will also concurrently conduct initial planning and scale up for a possible multinational military HADR operation.

Disaster Response Operations. If the affected state requests or accepts an offer of assistance, the Changi RHCC can support the coordination of a multinational military response through various means:

•     • The Changi RHCC will continue to broadcast the updated situation picture, including contributions of international aid, to partner militaries to facilitate decision-making, and minimise duplication and gaps in the provision of foreign military assistance. This can be done via the OPERA CIS web-portal as well as the Changi RHCC's network of international liaison officers and linkages with operations centres of regional militaries.
•     • The Changi RHCC will also coordinate and facilitate the deployment of foreign military assistance into theatre.
•     • If required and with the consent of the affected state, the Changi RHCC can also:
  •         - Deploy an advance team to conduct assessments on the disaster impact and likely requirements for military assistance; and
  •         - Forward deploy a mobile coordination unit to support the affected state's military to coordinate efforts on the ground, typically working within the Multinational Coordination Centre (MNCC) or other structure established by the affected state's military.
•     • Once the disaster relief efforts reach a steady state and the affected state's military is able to coordinate the foreign military assistance without external support, the Changi RHCC will draw down its operations.

Capacity-Building Efforts. In addition to disaster response operations, the Changi RHCC also seeks to build regional capacity for HADR. In its day-to-day efforts, the Changi RHCC seeks to establish and deepen its networks and linkages with partner militaries, as well as research and develop its HADR knowledge base. It will also actively participate in or host workshops, forums, training/education, exercises and other activities to promote mutual understanding and interoperability, and the sharing of best practices in disaster response.