The San Diego-based hospital ship USNS Mercy arrived in Malaysia Monday as part of the ongoing Pacific Partnership mission.
The vessel’s crew, which includes representatives of numerous aid organizations and other countries, will conduct a search-and-rescue seminar followed by a live exercise, medical seminars, civil engineering projects and community relations events.
The Pacific Partnership engineering team consisting of U.S. Navy Seabee and Malaysian Armed Forces engineers is scheduled to renovate two schools while in Kuantan.
“We have two major job sites in Malaysia,” said Construction Electrician 2nd Class Ernest Cherwin, assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 of San Diego and a crew leader for an elementary school restoration project in Kuantan. “Most of our work is meant to improve the quality of the sites we visit and learn from our partners.”
The stop is the fourth since the annual four-month humanitarian voyage began in May.
The Mercy left Da Nang, Vietnam, Thursday after completing two weeks of disaster response training, medical and engineering expert exchanges, cooperative health engagements and community relations events.
The vessel previously visited Timor Leste and the Philippines, and is scheduled to make calls later in Palau and Indonesia. The 11-year-old Pacific Partnership grew out of the disaster response to the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
–City News Service
