Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance

Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance
Logo for the Center for Excellence.
Active	1994–present
Country	United States
Type	PACOM Reporting Unit
Location	Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, in Hawaii
Nickname(s)	CFE, CFE-DM

The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE) is a direct reporting unit to the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) and principal agency to promote disaster preparedness and societal resiliency in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of its mandate, CFE facilitates education and training in disaster preparedness, consequence management and health security to develop domestic, foreign and international capability and capacity.

CFE partners with a wide variety of national and international governmental, nongovernmental and international organizations to provide relevant education, training, interagency coordination and research. CFE’s initiatives include establishing field offices at each US Regional Combatant Command and establishing strategic partnerships with public and private sector entities, such as Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS), Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, University of Hawaii, foundations, institutes, and universities.

A community of nations prepared to respond, collaborate, and manage natural and man-made disasters.

Nations with disaster management plans, prepared to respond to plausible contingencies, and willing to participate in a regional collaborative framework.

CFE was established by an act of the US Congress in 1994. US Code Title 10,182 established that, "the [Secretary of Defense] may operate a Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance."

The Health Emergencies in Large Populations (HELP) course is hosted by the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE) in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the partnership of University of Hawaii's John A. Burns School of Medicine's Office of Public Health Studies. This is a three-week, intensive, graduate-level training course, providing participants with an understanding of the major public health issues to be addressed among populations affected by natural disasters, complex emergencies, and internal displacement.

The CFE has conducted the HELP course for fifteen consecutive years, graduating over 250 students from diverse backgrounds in public health, medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster management backgrounds. The course provides participants with the tools, frameworks, and decision-making skills necessary to achieve a sustainable outcome for the affected population(s) and enable graduates to plan coherent, appropriate relief operations.