CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan -- The Okinawa area emergency evacuation plan’s new nonessential personnel evacuation preparedness campaign has been updated and was activated May 23.
The OAEEP is designed to help prepare nonessential status of forces agreement personnel and their families should a natural disaster warrant an evacuation off the island of Okinawa.
“We will begin our evacuation awareness campaign May 23,” said Lt. Col. Mary N. Hawkins, the G-3/5, operations and training, and community policy, planning and liaison office OAEEP coordinator for Marine Corps Installations Pacific. “The intent is to empower families to prepare themselves should a large-scale natural disaster threaten the island, and the U.S. government decides it is necessary to evacuate its nonessential personnel on Okinawa.”
Due to recent events, such as the tsunami that struck mainland Japan last year, it is important to make sure that everyone is prepared to evacuate should a natural disaster threaten to cripple Okinawa’s infrastructure, according to Hawkins.
“In the event of an emergency, it is essential to reduce the amount of personnel located on the island in order to ease the burden on Okinawa’s infrastructure and save potentially limited resources for the local population,” said Hawkins.
The plan applies to nonmilitary and nonessential personnel, including family members, government employees and contractors, said Capt. Beth Greer, the G-3/5 OAEEP analyst for MCIPAC. If an individual is not an American citizen but is a SOFA member then they will be eligible to be evacuated in case of an emergency.
“Preparation is key,” said Greer. “It is important that people know that this plan is in place and that resources are available to them.”
The best way to be prepared in the case of an emergency is to review the information on the OAEEP website, 1.usa.gov/OAEEP, and fill out the appropriate Department of Defense documentation found in the evacuation information packet, according to Hawkins.
“The website provides a wealth of information, an instructional video and the official forms necessary to quickly return to normalcy post-evacuation,” said Hawkins.
For more information on the OAEEP, Air Force and Army personnel can contact their assigned warden, Marine Corps personnel can contact their family readiness officer, and navy personnel can contact their emergency preparedness personnel.