Reason for the Conference

The need for a robust international response to the adverse effect on populations
of man-made and natural disasters has steadily expanded during the past decade.
The two major organized response forces can broadly be described as military and
civilian. This, of course, is not to minimize the often most important initiatives
and actions originating at the local level. These two forces as seen by the public
are traditionally separate from one another in objectives, available resources,
benchmarks of progress and training. Given the wider impact of today’s natural
disasters and globalization, these two forces will come into ever more frequent
association. The two groups will continue respective preparation for and response
to natural disasters but will increasingly meet and even overlap in particular
aspects of how assistance is offered and occurs. In order to ensure most effective
preparation for and response to the circumstances created by large-scale natural
disasters, it is imperative that civilians and the military carefully consider how
best to associate future efforts.

Conference Objectives: an Overview

There are several forums now analyzing civilian and military disaster response to
specific events, such as the 2004 Asian tsunami, looking for lessons learned and
ways to better communicate. The intent behind these efforts is to understand
respective objectives and intentions in order to not inadvertently jeopardize the
work of others. An additional goal (though less frequently distinct) is to set the
conditions to better coordinate the efforts pointing toward commonly agreed
outcomes. There is no doubt that such discussion has value, though the impact of
the conclusions and agreements to date has been remarkably limited.

This conference – Civilian-Military Association in Disaster Risk Reduction,
Response and Relief: Past, Present, Future – will carefully consider what we have
learned and how we intend to best apply it. The first part of this conference is
organized around acknowledging what has already been reviewed to date.
Through a broad examination by a select group of professionals on outcomes
(successful or otherwise) and how they were evaluated, our goal is to draw from
this analysis overarching information to serve as a platform for establishing a
more coherent approach. We are looking for broadly applicable conclusions that
have both separated and brought together respective service resources.
Following this, the conference will look at where this knowledge and these
common objectives can concretely take us next. We will consider objectives and
benchmarks both inside and outside traditional modes of behavior. Our goal is to
identify a constructive and achievable process that will facilitate better
information sharing and joint action. Participants will leave the conference with a
plan of action developed by parties committed to making it happen.