SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AFPN) - California Air National Guardsmen and members of California's Emergency Medical Services Authority are participating in a disaster response exercise with civilians and military members from Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova in Odessa, Ukraine, Sept. 13 through 21.
Activities will focus on disaster response and management following terrorist attack scenarios and the subsequent civilian emergency medical and public health response.
This international collaboration, called Rough and Ready 2006, will involve nearly 30 people from California's Air National Guard and 30 California Emergency Management Services Authority civilian members.
One hundred eighty Ukrainians, mostly local responders from the Odessa area and from the state security service and ministries of emergencies, interior and health, will participate in Rough and Ready 2006, plus 36 participants from neighboring countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
The scenarios include international responses to terrorist attacks on a port that houses an oil pipeline, a railway and a shopping mall.
"Many months and long hours of careful planning and coordination have gone into what will surely be one of our most successful State Partnership events," said Maj. Gen. Dennis G. Lucas, California Air National Guard commander. "Rough and Ready 2006 will demonstrate vitally important civil-military operational procedures, provide valuable training and strengthen our international ties even more."
"Our Air National Guard members, California's EMSA representatives, and their counterparts from Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan have developed a solid working relationship over the past several years, and I am extremely proud to be associated with an international event of this caliber," he said.
This joint civil-military disaster response effort is being conducted within the context of California's State Partnership Program with Ukraine.
Rough and Ready 2006 is the fourth such event focusing on interagency cooperation, disaster preparedness, emergency response and civil emergency planning.