According to the United Nations (2020), Humanitarian assistance is the assistance that seek to save lives, alleviate sufferings, and help maintain human dignity per the key humanitarian principle. However, the Department of Defense (DoD) considers humanitarian assistance to be DoD personnel who is planning, overseeing, conducting, and also evaluating specified humanitarian activities and projects that include assistance to the host national civilian authorities.
Humanitarian assistance and disaster response are two basic DOD capabilities. However, they are conducted in a supporting role to help the other agencies of the US government. DOD possesses the experience and assets to deploy the necessary relief personnel and the required resources to the whole world at short notice (Military Health System, 2020) . There is always no actor who is better prepared to respond to any crisis in time than the DoD. The DoD conducts humanitarian assistance as a means to an end. Activities of humanitarian assistance can relieve or even reduce human sufferings, hunger, diseases, privation, and the undesired impacts of unexploded explosive ordnance (UXO). That is crucial in areas where humanitarian needs may be a greater challenge to the existing stability and prosperity.
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Disaster relief is a quick response to any crisis through the supply of non-lethal equipment or transportation of resources related to humanitarian assistance and unique services that address urgent and critical humanitarian needs. The USAID often may request DoD assistance based on the scope of the disaster. However, the common DoD assistance requests comprise airlift, direct care of patients, hospital support, and civilian evacuation from the disaster area (Moroney et al., 2020) . DoD has played a key role in international disaster response since it has unique capabilities, workforce, and well-deployed sources. Besides, the DoD also has various capabilities used for the general military requirements, which can also be useful for the operations intended for disaster relief.
References
Military Health System. (2020). Global Health Engagement . Military Health System. Retrieved 9 December 2020, from https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Health-Readiness/Global-Health-Engagement.
Moroney, J., Pezard, S., Miller, L., Engstrom, J., & Doll, A. (2020). Lessons from Department of Defense Disaster Relief Efforts in the Asia-Pacific Region . Rand.org. Retrieved 9 December 2020, from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR146.html.
United Nations. (2020). Deliver Humanitarian Aid . Un.org. Retrieved 9 December 2020, from https://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/deliver-humanitarian-aid/.
