ADF

Uganda’s National Emergency Coordination and Operations Centre Offers a Model ADF STAFF In July 2013, three earthquakes shook Uganda’s Lake Albert region. The tremors caused minimal damage but reminded the country’s disaster response officials that they needed to be prepared for the big one, should it ever hit. “It was an early warning; it was a wake-up call, and it really activated us to check our capabilities,” said Maj. Gen. Julius Oketta, director of the country’s National Emergency Coordination and Operations Centre (NECOC). “And we found that yes, if it had happened, we didn’t have the adequate capability.” In response,…

Brig. Gen. Lawrence Smith is the general officer commanding the 43rd South African Brigade of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in the United States and of the PLA National Defense University of China. His past assignments included two stints in Burundi as commander of the South African peacekeeping forces, 15 months in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the section commander in the east, and commander of the Southern African Development Community Standby Force. In July and August 2013, he served as…

Joint Training at Shared Accord 13 Strengthens Two Infantries Before daybreak, a convoy of vehicles bumped down a dirt track pocked with deep ruts and termite mounds in the South African veld. The convoy included U.S. Humvees and South African armored personnel vehicles called Casspirs and Mambas. With a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius and a whipping wind, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) infantrymen pulled on their gloves and wore knit caps under their Kevlar helmets. The morning training lane –– one of the first in a two-week bilateral exercise known as Shared Accord –– was called “movement…

A Humanitarian Event Offers Free Medical Care to Civilians and Training for Soldiers From a distance, the crowd ringing the cricket stadium near Bhisho, South Africa, looked like fans queuing up for a big match. The festive atmosphere was amplified by Cynthia Bhadikazi Mnyande, an occupational health and safety supervisor from nearby Grey Hospital, who wore a multicolored cap and shouted words of encouragement through a megaphone. “Everyone will get in,” said Mnyande, who alternated between English and Xhosa. But these people, many of whom showed up as early as 6 a.m., were not there for sports; they were there…

ADF STAFF After more than a year of violence and instability, Malians walked to the polls and cast a vote for a more peaceful future. The vote in late July 2013 occurred without incident under the cover of heavy security. It was the first election since 2007. When no candidate received a majority, voters went to the polls a second time in August. Former Prime Minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 68, prevailed with 77.6 percent of the vote. All over the vast Sahel nation, voters queued up to cast ballots. When it was their turn, they stepped into cardboard booths, marked…

South Africa, a Leader in Disaster Response, Works to Improve In January 2013, weeks of heavy rain caused the Limpopo River in Mozambique to swell and spill over its banks, flooding surrounding farmland and villages. About 185,000 people were forced to flee their homes as the floodwaters rose. Damaged transmission lines cut half of the nation’s power supply. And although a disaster like this could easily overwhelm the resources of a country like Mozambique, its people got a helping hand from their neighbor to the south. A team of about 100 from all branches of the South African National Defence…

Africa from 1980 to 2008  ADF STAFF Africa is home to a wide range of natural disasters. Floods come along with the rainy seasons in Mozambique, Madagascar and Ghana. Famines and droughts are common in East Africa, especially Somalia and Ethiopia. Earthquakes occasionally shake North African countries, and locust swarms hit many of the Sahel nations. Migration and displacement can set the stage for catastrophic disease outbreaks. HIV/AIDS is prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the “meningitis belt” stretches from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. African nations have dealt with outbreaks of measles, cholera, typhoid fever, polio, and the…

Kofi Portuphy Talks to ADF About His Nation’s Accomplishments and Challenges in Emergency Management Story by ADF STAFF, photo by SENIOR MASTER SGT. DAVID H. LIPP/NORTH DAKOTA AIR NATIONAL GUARD Kofi Portuphy is national coordinator of Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO). He spoke with ADF in September 2013 about disasters that affect his country, how NADMO is building capacity to respond to them, and the country’s new Emergency Operations Center. The following is an edited compilation of his remarks. On the Kinds of Disasters Most Common to Ghana The types of disasters include floods and fires. Then we have…

Kenya’s Military Embraces the Role of Disaster Responders BERENIKA STEFANSKA The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) received global attention during the devastating terror attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that left more than 60 dead in September 2013. The crisis tested the military’s capacity to manage and control an extended security incident on its home soil like few other events have in the nation’s history. Yet, every year, the KDF battles calamities that are equally deadly — natural disasters. These disasters do not attract as much international attention but are a testament to the role the KDF plays in…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Ethiopian running star Haile Gebrselassie said he is entering politics with the aim of winning a parliamentary seat in the 2015 election. The 40-year-old’s announcement in July 2013 came after long-standing rumors that his running career was drawing to a close. Haile, who once set a world record time in the marathon, is regarded as a national icon by most Ethiopians. He did not say under which party’s banner he will contest the election. Ethiopia’s Parliament is dominated by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. It has only one opposition member. “Nelson Mandela is my…