The team represents one of many that are sent out to islands throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans as part of the US Army Pacific Disaster Preparedness Mitigation Assessment (DPMA) Program. DPMA started in 1987 as the Disaster Preparedness Planning Surveys program. Together the program countries and US embassy country teams identify potential problem areas and prioritize courses of action. It was US Pacific Command's initiative to apply some preventative medicine to the military's expanding missions in humanitarian aid and disaster assistance.

As the team doctor Effler was responsible for evaluating the ability of the health care system to respond to a range of disasters. Effler said that his part of the team's main 'product' was the identification of health care services and facilities coordinated with other disaster information such as location of fire stations, community shelters and schools.

Effler's reserve job is public health doctor with the 322d Civil Affairs Brigade, headquartered at Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. His civilian job as Hawaii's Chief Epidemiologist involves a public health specialty that deals with treatment and prevention of epidemic disease.

Dr. Effler met with Mauritius officials from the World Health Organization, the Mauritius Red Cross, as well as various hospitals on the Island. Concerning his mission as part of the disaster assessment, he said, "We are establishing a good rapport with Mauritius and hoping to contribute something to disaster planning. Meanwhile the team is getting valuable skills."

Those skills include use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to establish the location of critical hospitals, roads, air, and port facilities, fire fighting capabilities and other functions necessary to the management of a disaster. These positions will then be fed into a database designed for the Geographical Information System (GIS) and specific to DPMA's disaster planning mission. "This is the first time this database has been used," said Col Kenneth Koon, the team chief of the Mauritius mission. It is also the first DPMA disaster assistance visit to Mauritius.

Dr. Effler has an extensive background in disaster assistance and public health planning. He has worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the Epidemic Intelligence Service during which he has been on standby for outbreaks of disease in the U.S. and worldwide. He assisted with the containment and treatment of cholera in Swaziland and HIV in refugee camps in Ethiopia. He also teaches epidemiology for the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance.

Dr. Effler is new to the Army. He has been a Captain for one year. He says he "joined so that I could work internationally again, and stay current particularly with work in humanitarian assistance. This mission represents the realization of that opportunity."

The most frequent disasters affecting Mauritius are natural rather than man-made, from cyclones and floods and land-slides caused by cyclones. It was to the ramifications of these disasters as well as some potential man-made incidents that the team turned its efforts. The main product the team will leave with the Government of Mauritius is this database that consolidates information concerning disaster planning. According to government sources, this is the first time planning information, such as location of major transportation arteries, hospitals, port facilities and airport capabilities, will be available in a single consolidated database.

This information is now linked to a single Global Information System Data Base which helps the DPMA program identify for US Pacific Command what resources and systems would likely be needed in the event that the military were called upon to assist Mauritius in a disaster. According to government officials here the database was also a most valuable tool for Mauritius: never before has the disaster planning information been gathered into a single database.

Hawaii's Chief Epidemiologist, Dr. Paul Effler, also a Captain in the Army Reserve, recently visited the Island Republic of Mauritius to exchange information on medical disaster preparedness with island agencies and medical personnel. CPT Effler was part of a team of experts on disaster preparedness sent to assist the government of Mauritius in preparing for a range of disasters from cyclones and floods to industrial accident and incidents.