Korean Army highlights prepositioning of equipment in disaster preparedness

From the Philippine News Agency (Dec 16): Korean Army highlights prepositioning of equipment in disaster preparedness

If there would be one post-Yolanda lesson the Korean Armed Forces would like to impart to the Philippine government, it is the prepositioning of heavy equipment to make sure that road are cleared from debris.

Col. Lee Chul Won, commander of the South Korean Military Joint Support Group, said that no organization would be able to deliver aids to affected communities if roads are blocked with debris.

“It is really important for the Philippines to develop a certain positioning of heavy equipment to the different island especially that Philippines consist of more than 7,000 islands,” he said.

“You will have to locate the heavy equipment for the disaster management, and also coordinate with the navy ships which can transport the equipment faster to other regions” said Col. Lee.

The contingent is leaving this week, but they will leave their heavy equipment from Korea to the Philippine government's Department of National Defense to help in future disaster response.

The troops will culminate their humanitarian mission in the Philippines December 21, 2014, after a year of reconstruction works.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=716713