WEBVTT 00:06.589 --> 00:08.883 Mauritius is within the Indian Ocean. 00:08.883 --> 00:11.886 It is really far from just about anywhere. 00:11.928 --> 00:15.765 We would like to empower them to make sure that they are able to be able 00:15.765 --> 00:18.268 to protect their country, the people in the country 00:18.268 --> 00:20.437 and the infrastructure that they already have. 00:20.437 --> 00:23.565 One of the reasons we want to be able to help them become self-sufficient 00:23.565 --> 00:26.526 is not only because they're so geographically distant from us. 00:26.651 --> 00:29.696 When the time comes that the US does need their assistance, 00:30.030 --> 00:31.573 regardless of what that is. 00:31.573 --> 00:34.576 We want to have a reliable and dependable partner. 00:34.784 --> 00:39.372 In January of this year, we ran a comprehensive tabletop exercise. 00:39.456 --> 00:44.335 Just last month, we finalized the donation of over $140,000 00:44.335 --> 00:48.131 worth of specialized hazmat protective gear and response tools. 00:48.131 --> 00:49.591 This week's exercise 00:49.591 --> 00:53.386 is the culmination of those efforts, bringing together multiple agencies. 00:53.470 --> 00:57.098 The Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service, the Mauritius Port Authority, 00:57.307 --> 01:02.145 the Police force, the National Coast Guard to respond to a simulated hazmat crisis. 01:02.187 --> 01:05.231 We're stress testing their standard operating procedures, 01:05.231 --> 01:08.318 the logistical coordination and their tactical use of the newly 01:08.318 --> 01:11.946 acquired protective gear and a high stakes, time sensitive scenario. 01:14.365 --> 01:14.783 One of 01:14.783 --> 01:17.827 the biggest challenges here is coordinating with all of the agencies 01:17.827 --> 01:21.164 coming together to collaborate to make sure that we all have the same 01:21.164 --> 01:24.292 shared knowledge, especially for a port exercise. 01:24.375 --> 01:28.088 This is the main infrastructure for Mauritius, and we want to make sure 01:28.088 --> 01:31.132 that they are fully equipped for any type of incident. 01:31.591 --> 01:34.385 The risk of a hazmat incident of going here 01:34.385 --> 01:37.388 is higher compared to other places in Mauritius. 01:37.680 --> 01:41.559 The main objective of this simulation was to enhance 01:41.559 --> 01:44.562 coordination and communication amongst the entire agencies, 01:44.562 --> 01:48.358 all the agencies involved, and also it will improve our capacity 01:48.358 --> 01:51.945 to detect, identify, contain any hazmat products. 01:52.445 --> 01:55.365 Some of them have actually voiced to us that this is the first time 01:55.365 --> 01:58.326 that they've actually worked with all these different entities together. 01:58.535 --> 02:02.705 Many of them operate within a stovepipe or in their own little corner of the world. 02:02.914 --> 02:05.917 Bringing them all together has forced interagency operation. 02:06.251 --> 02:08.545 Every agency has their own training. 02:08.545 --> 02:14.134 They have had the training on different aspects of hazmat, EOD and so much. 02:14.467 --> 02:17.846 But they have not put together all these things, working together 02:17.846 --> 02:21.015 in a common situation where all these agencies work together. 02:21.558 --> 02:24.811 We want to make sure we're capturing the accurate actions of what is happening 02:24.811 --> 02:25.436 that day. 02:25.436 --> 02:28.481 We really want you to narrow in, make sure you're getting good notes. 02:28.481 --> 02:30.525 What is happening at your location. 02:30.525 --> 02:34.779 There's specific questions that we want to kind of place in your mind 02:34.779 --> 02:36.990 based on the location that you're working at. 02:36.990 --> 02:38.491 We're trying to make it really easy for you 02:38.491 --> 02:41.494 to submit these responses of things that you observe 02:41.744 --> 02:44.247 from the Mauritian controllers, and we're looking for ownership. 02:44.247 --> 02:47.375 We want them to make critical observations. 02:47.584 --> 02:51.254 We want them to have enough feedback that they can make 02:51.254 --> 02:54.257 meaningful change to their organization. 02:54.299 --> 02:56.676 Keep looking to see what's going on right now. 02:56.676 --> 03:00.305 Note they were still seeing some type of yellow smoke coming out. 03:00.513 --> 03:03.850 What containers will these who does these containers belong to? 03:04.726 --> 03:06.436 Yeah, it's not a pass or fail. 03:06.436 --> 03:08.646 This is about countries learning together. 03:08.646 --> 03:11.441 So we're going to learn from Mauritius. And Mauritius will learn from us. 03:11.441 --> 03:15.612 So every incidents every inject that we have within this exercise 03:15.778 --> 03:17.739 it is more of a teaching moment. 03:17.739 --> 03:19.365 So is whether they do it right. 03:19.365 --> 03:21.618 They do it wrong. We're all going to learn together. 03:24.913 --> 03:25.538 This is a 03:25.538 --> 03:29.959 facilitated exercise where we are acting as mentors. 03:30.043 --> 03:33.755 We want to ensure that the Mauritiians have the institutional capacity 03:33.755 --> 03:37.550 to conduct exercises on their own, along with the confidence 03:37.550 --> 03:39.385 in their own ability to do it. 03:39.385 --> 03:43.014 Now we have acquired so much from this exercise. 03:43.181 --> 03:46.434 We are ready to party exists on our unit line now. 03:46.726 --> 03:49.145 I think that the other agencies will do as well. 03:49.145 --> 03:53.441 Definitely will have many more training coordination with other agencies 03:53.441 --> 03:54.817 as first responders. 03:54.817 --> 03:58.738 We have to get ready because, the bad guys will never tell us 03:58.905 --> 04:00.073 when they will hit. 04:00.073 --> 04:02.492 And we must be prepared. Always. 04:02.492 --> 04:05.828 What we're looking for is a partner that can share in the burden 04:05.912 --> 04:10.458 of the security of the region, as well as acting as a force 04:10.458 --> 04:13.836 multiplier, assisting in our own homeland defense. 04:14.295 --> 04:17.715 I just like to highlight the incredible dedication of the Mauritian personnel 04:17.840 --> 04:21.094 stepping out of their daily routine to participate in highly technical, 04:21.094 --> 04:24.639 physically demanding joint exercises requires a strong commitment 04:24.639 --> 04:25.765 to public safety, 04:25.765 --> 04:29.560 and they have brought an impressive level of professionalism from their side. 04:29.978 --> 04:34.148 A big thanks to the DTRA team has been very enthusiastic teamwork 04:34.440 --> 04:37.568 has been done with them and with the stakeholders 04:37.568 --> 04:40.571 , to conduct this exercise 04:40.905 --> 04:44.450 and hope in future we will have to work more together.