The U.S. government, through U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), donated two operations centers and five defibrillators to the Dominican Republic’s Emergency Operations Center (COE, in Spanish) on June 30, 2021, to increase the Dominican government’s capacity to provide emergency assistance during disaster response operations or health crises, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The donation, valued at $600,000, is in addition to the more than $12 million in assistance that the U.S. government has provided to the Dominican Republic to help with COVID-19 mitigation and disaster response and relief.
“It’s an honor for me to be with you today [June 30] at the Emergency Operations Center to, once again, demonstrate the strength of the relationship between our governments, the United States and the Dominican Republic,” U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo Chargé d’Affaires Robert Thomas said at the donation ceremony. “The U.S. government donation, through U.S. Southern Command, of these mobile emergency operations centers, defibrillators, and related equipment will contribute to the shared efforts of our governments to protect the security of the Dominican Republic and our entire region.”
It’s an honor for me to be with you today [June 30] at the Emergency Operations Center to, once again, demonstrate the strength of the relationship between our governments, the United States and the Dominican Republic,” U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo Chargé d’Affaires Robert Thomas.
“With these defibrillators, the organization we lead will be protected against cardiac emergencies, which is an unprecedented achievement for this institution and for the national emergency response system,” said Major General (ret.) Dr. Juan Manuel Méndez García, COE director, who received the donations on behalf of the Dominican government. “Meanwhile, coordination and communications centers send updates to us with state-of-the-art technology.”
On behalf of Dominican President Luis Abinader, Maj. Gen. Méndez expressed his gratitude for the donation of these coordination tools and medical equipment, which will definitely “strengthen interinstitutional cooperation.”
The donation is part of SOUTHCOM’s Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP), whose contributions to the country in the last year totaled more than $6 million, taking into account the two mobile hospitals, which include eight ventilators, personal protective equipment, and syringes, delivered in September 2020 to support the vaccination plan.