Military, hospitals collaborate during ‘tsunami’ at RIMPAC

An imagined magnitude-9.5 earthquake off Chile and a resulting 30-foot tsunami rolling into Hono­lulu gave the military and hospital system on Oahu a chance to work together over the past five days during Rim of the Pacific war games to manage the hypothetical disaster.

Army Spc. Lisa Rosales, 29, was among the 8,000 to 10,000 people displaced by the "tsunami." She was made up to look like she had a gunshot wound to the abdomen, a laceration to her arm and glass in her chest.

"I don’t think people would expect certain injuries like gunshot injuries (during a natural disaster)," said Rosa­les, who was airlifted to Tripler Army Medical Center on a military helicopter in a test of treatment capabilities.

One of the role players, wearing a black T-shirt, staged an argument Friday with medical providers at the treatment camp set up on Ford Island and then shouted to no one in particular, "Has anybody seen my brother?"

In the scenario, downtown Hono­lulu was a jumble of cars, wood, debris and water. Part of the Sand Island access bridge had collapsed and was underwater. Aloha Stadium was being used for evacuees.

It was the first time in RIMPAC’s 41-year history that a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief component was part of the big maritime exercise, and the first time U.S. hospitals have participated in RIMPAC.

The U.S. military now views emergency relief as a cornerstone of maintaining and improving international relations in the disaster-prone Pacific.

Several hundred military members and about 45 medical workers from 11 hospitals in the state evaluated about 200 "casualties" of the tsunami Friday at a makeshift camp on Ford Island made up of dozens of big field tents.

In the disaster scenario, the tsunami hit the fictional Republic of Chianti, a foreign nation, and the U.S. military got involved through the United Nations and U.S. State Department. But it was also a test of military assistance to the real Hono­lulu in the event of a disaster.

Toby Clairmont, director of disaster services for the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, said the local hospitals were learning "how to work with the Department of Defense on an international operation and work with them effectively, which can be hard because cultures are different."

The civilian medical members also interacted with other nations taking part in RIMPAC.

Hawaii hospital members that were part of a disaster medical assistance team have deployed to U.S. territories such as American Samoa and Guam but not to foreign countries, officials said.

A Hawaii hospital team wanted to lend a hand in Japan after the 2011 tsunami as part of Operation Tomo­da­chi, the U.S. relief effort, but the U.S. Defense Department "wasn’t sure about us, (and their reaction was,) ‘Who are you, what can you do?’" Clairmont said.

The five-day exercise ending Friday helped bridge that gap, Clairmont said.