Australien/USA — Pacific Partnership 2010 — USNS Mercy has arrived in Cambodia

USNS Mer­cy has arrived in Cam­bo­dia, the first time Pacif­ic Part­ner­ship has vis­it­ed the coun­try, to enhance local pro­vi­sion of health and edu­ca­tion­al ser­vices.

(left to right) Lieu­tenant Scott Klimp, Unit­ed States Navy, Cap­tain Michael Blunk, Unit­ed States Army, Sap­per Jared Groves, 2nd Com­bat Engi­neer Reg­i­ment and Elec­tron­ics Tech­ni­cian 3 Jason Howard at the front of the Good­will Cen­tre, a school in Sihanoukville, Cam­bo­dia. 2nd Com­bat Engi­neer Reg­i­ment are assist­ing with the refur­bish­ment of the school grounds in Sihanoukville, Cam­bo­dia dur­ing Pacif­ic Part­ner­ship 2010. Source: Aus­tralian Depart­ment of Defence Click to enlarge

The mul­ti-nation­al team, includ­ing 22 ADF per­son­nel are work­ing at var­i­ous sites around Sihanoukville and in more rur­al areas of Cam­bo­dia. Once again Aus­tralian med­ical per­son­nel will con­duct surg­eries onboard Mercy. 

Aus­tralia is par­tic­i­pat­ing in the annu­al US-led human­i­tar­i­an assis­tance mis­sion. Twen­ty two ADF per­son­nel have joined USNS Mer­cy as the first of three sep­a­rate Aus­tralian con­tin­gents to rotate through the region over the next three months. 

The PP10 mis­sion marks the fifth year of Aus­tralian sup­port, and will pro­vide engi­neer­ing and med­ical assis­tance in Viet­nam, Cam­bo­dia, Indone­sia, East Tim­or and Papua New Guinea. 

Aimed at strength­en­ing inter­na­tion­al rela­tion­ships and inter­op­er­abil­i­ty for dis­as­ter relief through­out South East Asia and Ocea­nia, ADF per­son­nel will be based out of USNS Mer­cy in Viet­nam, Cam­bo­dia, Indone­sia and East Tim­or. Addi­tion­al­ly, RAN assets HMA Ships Labuan and Tarakan will pro­vide assis­tance with ship to shore move­ments in some countries. 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia