Singapore announced on Friday that it has established a regional humanitarian and disaster relief coordination center aimed at boosting disaster relief coordination within the region with other militaries.
Housed at the Changi Command and Control Center, the Changi Regional Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Coordination Center is operational round-the-clock to serve the Asia region.
In the event of a full blown disaster, there will be up to 50 people staffing the center, it said.
The center will fuse information from regional disaster and early warning centers in the event of an approaching natural disaster such as a typhoon. It will then distribute the information to partner militaries through its information system web portal.
If the affected country or region agrees, the center will also concurrently conduct initial planning for a possible multinational military humanitarian and disaster relief operation.
If the natural disaster worsens, the center will continue to broadcast updates of the situation, including contributions of international aid to partner militaries in the region.
At the same time, the center will also coordinate and facilitate the deployment of foreign military assistance.
Once the disaster relief efforts reach a steady pace and the affected country's military is able to coordinate foreign military assistance without external support, the center will draw down its operations.