ASEAN moves towards a disaster-resilient ASEAN Community

13-Oct-2016

Source:  ASEAN Secretariat News

ASEAN moves towards a disaster-resilient ASEAN Community

MANADO, INDONESIA, 13 OCTOBER 2016 – ASEAN Ministers in charge of disaster management along with the ASEAN Secretariat and the AHA Centre gathered in Manado, Indonesia from 11 – 13 October for various meetings to solidify efforts towards a disaster-resilient ASEAN Community. The meetings came after the signing of the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN, One Response at the recent ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Lao PDR in September 2016.

Important decisions were made at the meetings to further enhance ASEAN’s preparedness and response to disasters, both within and beyond ASEAN. Among them are the adoption of the Standard Operating Procedure for Standby Arrangement and Joint Emergency Response on the facilitation and utilisation of military assets and capacities; the ASEAN Joint Disaster Response Plan; the ASEAN Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Guidelines; the ASEAN Joint Disaster Response Plan; and increased annual contributions to the AHA Centre.

“One ASEAN, One Response is like the mangrove we planted. It takes time to grow, to be nurtured and to be strong. It will be a long-term gain achieved through long-term policies and commitment,” said Willem Rampangilei, Minister/Head of Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Authority and Chair of ASEAN Ministers Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) during the opening.

“The advent of the One ASEAN One Response lays down a solid foundation for us to further our existing partnerships with dialogue partners and to build new ones to drive projects and programmes,” said Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Socio-Cultural Community. He added that“the operationalization of the One ASEAN One Response would benefit from the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management as decided by the ASEAN Leaders.”

The Ministers, Deputy Secretary-General Arthakaivalvatee and the Executive Director of the AHA Centre joined the leaders of the North Sulawesi Province and the local community in planting mangrove and transplanting coral reef at Bahowo beach. This activity kicked off the Commemoration Month of Disaster Risk Reduction and the ASEAN Day for Disaster Management which aim to raise awareness and garner buy-in and support for ASEAN’s efforts towards disaster risk reduction and management.

To operationalize the One ASEAN One Response beyond the region, the Ministers adopted a joint statement for the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which will take place on 3-4 November 2016 in New Delhi, India. The joint statement reaffirms ASEAN’s support to the Sendai Framework through various mechanisms and programme.

The meetings were organized by the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management Authority.

                                                            -o0o-