Over a hundred local emergency responders, reservists and rescue personnel from two government agencies in Catanduanes completed a series of disaster readiness trainings last week under the Pacific Partnership 2025 mission of the United States Navy’s Pacific Fleet.
Held in coordination with the provincial government through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), the multi-agency training held from June 2–12, 2025, at the Capitol compound.
Experts from the Hawaii National Guard and the Philippine Army’s 525th Combat Engineer “Forerunner” Battalion of the Combat Engineer Regiment, supported by the AFP General Headquarters and its Southern Luzon Command, conducted trainings on Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations, including Rope Rescue Training and Collapsed Structure Rescue Training.
Focused on lifesaving operations in challenging environments, the activity included practical, hands-on training in simulated collapsed structure rescue, shoring and stabilization techniques, confined space navigation, and rubble pile operations. The program concluded with a realistic disaster scenario to test coordination and execution of newly learned skills.
Following the successful conduct of a simulation, certificates were awarded to participants from various Municipal DRRMOs, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), BFP Special Rescue Force (SRF), the Philippine Red Cross Catanduanes Chapter and units from the 503rd RRIBN, 5th RCDG of the Philippine Army.
The Pacific Partnership 2025 also conducted training on the Incident Command System (ICS) at the ARDCI Corporate Inn and another one on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR).
The activities are designed to enhance technical skills, exercise the use of coordination frameworks, and support community-based resilience initiatives, thereby increasing natural disaster preparedness in Virac and the province.
“Pacific Partnership is about more than training; it’s about building lasting relationships that strengthen regional security and stability,” said U.S. Navy Cmdr. Robert Reyes, the officer in charge for the Philippines mission stop. “Each interaction brings us closer to achieving a shared goal of a safer, more resilient Indo-Pacific.”
The ICS and disaster management workshops are modelled after the U.S. National Incident Management System (NIMS), which provides a standardized framework for incident management to improve disaster preparedness and response capabilities. These sessions include command post simulations, interagency coordination exercises, and disaster response planning scenarios aimed at building a common operating framework between civilian and military organizations in the Philippines.
Now in its 21st iteration, the Pacific Partnership series is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster management preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific.
Pacific Partnership works collaboratively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific, the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet said.