MANADO, KOMPAS.com - North Sulawesi Governor Dr SH Sarundajang expressed appreciation for the confidence in the province to host international disaster mitigation from May 31 to June 15, 2012. He made the thanks to the participants of the Mid Planning Conference, Pacific Partnership 2012 in San Diego, the United States on Tuesday local time.
"On behalf of the people of North Sulawesi I expressed my thanks for the honor to host the Pacific Partnership Human Mission 2012," Sarundajang said.
Sarundajang made the statement to 500 soldiers and officers of the participating countries including representatives of the TNI Headquarters in the the Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command conference. Sarundajang said the event is a noble humanity program, and therefore an honor for North Sulawesi to support it and make a success of it.
"The N Sulawesi government fully supports the program and is ready to make it a success. The people of North Sulawesi welcome the arrival of the USNS Mercy hospital ship mission," the Governor said. Sarundajang also boasted N Sulawesi’s superiority and its geo-strategic position in the Paficic, its natural beauty, culinary food, and kindness of the people of the area.
The explanations were followed by technical discussions at working group level to discuss technical matters on preparations in North Sulawesi. The governor has been invited by Mission Commander Captain Jim Morgan to make a direct inspection of the United States Naval Hospital Ship (USNS) Mercy at the US naval base in San Diego.
USNS Mercy is a legendary ship of the US navy in humanitarian missions to various parts of the world. The ship was originally an oil tanker SS Worth, built in San Diego, California, in 1976. In July 1984 the ship changed names and functions into a floating hospital.
On July 20, 1985 USNS Mercy was officially inaugurated. The ship has complete medical equipment and tools for humanitarian missions, post-disaster eradication and restoration, and is the third biggest ship in the US navy.
In the discussions between Governor Sarundajang and the US navy team, there were several interesting matters like the support of volunteers and non-profit organizations to take part in the humanitarian mission in February 2012 followed by a finalization meeting of the mission in Manado.
"An interesting thing has also been revealed from the conference participants that North Sulawesi had been identified as a center of the Coral Triangle Initiative, and posed an important interest from the US navy to conduct sea clean social activities. They are very concerned with the safety of our coral reefs," said Sarundajang who in the visit was in the company of head of the regional disaster mitigation agency Hoyke Makarawung and his special staff Freddy Lengkong.
The mission of the Pacific Partnership is a joint training in providing humanitarian assistance to natural disaster victims. The projects will include the building and improvement of community health centers, school buildings, the provision of sanitation facilities like clean water.
The activities in North Sulawesi will be marked by the arrival of USNS Mercy in Manado bay on May 31, and dock for three days. Then it will proceed to three regencies, namely Sangihe, Talaud and Sitaro, from May 31 to June 15, 2012.
