User:Atlantica106

Atlantica, officially the Republic of Atlantica, is a small pro-Western Eurasian republic. The country's capital is Elizabeth Town. Other cities include Aniram and Lesic, as well as numerous small villages and hamlets. Within the province of Kalovirk, a 35km area in south central Atlantica, lay the villages of Cene, Ezrov, and Adrad.

In reality, Atlantica is a fictional country that provides a realistic representation of the environment in which a humanitarian would operate, specifically under the conditions of a complex emergency. Participants "deploy" to Atlantica under a mock crisis during either Atlantic Hope or Svetlina as aid workers from International Humanitarian Aid (IHA), a fictional non-governmental aid agency.

These events are organized by the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education as well as the United States Institute of Peace.

History
After gaining independence from Great Britain in 1985, the Atlantica people lived in relative harmony and economic prosperity, based on a thriving tourist industry.

On March 2, 2011, the Republic of Atlantica was struck by an earthquake in its south central highlands area, measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was located near the towns of Aniram and Lesic. It was estimated that there were 2,000 fatalities in addition to 5,000 injured and 150 missing person. This natural disaster was compounded by the fact that the nation was on the verge of a violent internal conflict.

Atlantica is beset by long standing political and cultural divisions between the wealthy Northerners and poorer tribal Southern Highlanders. Violent attacks by Southern Highlander tribesmen against Atlantican police and security operations had been increasing for months before the onset of the earthquake. Both landmines and improvised explosive devises (IEDs) were used by Southern Highlanders against government forces. All out civil war was only avoided by the mediation efforts of moderate Northerners and members of the international community. At the time, it was thought that the earthquake could either move the country to civil war, or create opportunities for all sides to work together and promote a peace strategy.

Reluctantly, the Atlantican government requested for outside help to avert a serious humanitarian crisis. Being largely unprepared for a natural disaster of this scale, the government asked the United States to take responsibility for the province of Kalovirk.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), part of the U.S. Agency of International Developement (USAID), committed to providing humanitarian relief to the region.

Geography
The Republic of Atlantica is divided into two major geographical regions, the Northern Lowlands and the Southern Highlands.

Roster of Stakeholders at OFDA meeting
John Blakely representing the OFDA. Christopher George the atlantican government representative from the Ministry for National Security (MNS). Simona Tollefson representing on behalf of the New World Party (NWP). Victor Durgan a board member of Partners for Development of Southern Atlantica (PDSA). Sarah Govich from International Humanitarian Action (IHA) Lorenzo Diaz from Rights without Borders (RWB).

Culture
Despite being racially identical, the peoples of the Northern lowlands and the Southern highlands are separated due to the variation in geography between the two. The northern half has wide plains and fertile fields, leaving them with an economical advantage over the southern mountainous peoples.