As Hurricane Patricia bears down on Mexico, the U.S. military is standing by if called upon to help.

The Mexican military geared up for a major humanitarian assistance mission, one that the U.S. could help with if asked, said U.S. Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek. Previous U.S. humanitarian responses have ranged from delivering food and aid to conducting rescuing stranded people in life-threatening predicaments. However, the Mexican military has proven very capable during past major hurricanes.

"Typically, what we have seen in the past is very few requests from the Mexican government," Kucharek said. "We are obviously standing by; they are one of our close partners in the region. But their emergency responders are well-equipped."

The "unprecedented" megastorm is packing 200-mile-per-hour winds and is taking aim at Mexico's west coast of Mexico, threatening Port of Manzanillo and the resort town of Puerto Vallarta. Many Media outlets reported Friday that Patricia is the largest hurricane recorded in the Western Hemisphere.

The National Hurricane Center has issued warnings that Patricia has the potential to trigger a major humanitarian disaster.

Resorts and airports in the storm's path have all been closed and many have begun evacuating head of landfall, according to media reports. media is reporting. 

The U.S. and Mexican militaries work well together and have trained for such an event, Kucharek said.

"We've prepped the battlefield in terms of planning," Kucharek said. "We've done several theater-security operations with Mexico, so what you'd see most likely, if anything were asked for, would be some kind of niche capability that exists inside of the Department of Defense."

In September, Mexican Marines joined the Marine Corps, Japan and New Zealand for Exercise Dawn Blitz at Camp Pendleton, California.

Analysts have put Patricia on par with the deadly 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, which packed 195-mph winds and ripped through wreck broad swathes of the Philippines, leaving thousands with little food, water, medical care and electricity.

That event launched Operation Damayan, a massive humanitarian mission that involved the George Washington Carrier Strike Group, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Amphibious Squadron 11, 66 Air Force and Navy aircraft, and more than 13,000 troops, one of the largest U.S. deployments in the Pacific in decades.

U.S. officials will be tracking the storm closely, but say that the first step will be assessing damages.that nothing will move too quickly until the full scope of the damage can be assessed.

"We certainly don't anticipate doing much, at least initially, we've got to wait for the hurricane to pass by," Kucharek said. "We've obviously got to wait and see."

About David B. Larter

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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