Apart from being prone to seasonal floods and storms, most ASEAN member
states straddle the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area susceptible to earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions.
Compared to the relentless
onslaught of natural calamities, however, the development of ASEAN's disaster
mitigation mechanisms has been sluggish, if not long overdue.
Over the past year alone, ASEAN
countries have reeled from floods and drought in Thailand, monsoon floods in
Myanmar, floods and typhoons in Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as
earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and flash floods in Indonesia.
Last month, floods caused by
monsoon rains followed by two typhoons brought Manila to a standstill,
affecting more than three million people.
In Indonesia, a 6.2-magnitude
quake rocked Sulawesi, isolating victims as landslides blocked land
transportation routes in the mountainous areas. Downed communication lines made
evacuation, rescue and even damage assessment difficult. The affected villages
in Sulawesi were further devastated by flash floods not long after the
earthquake.
The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster
Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) is a welcome initiative. But
progress has in the past been slow. It was only in 2009 that the AADMER entered
into force - six years after it was signed. The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for
Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre), part of AADMER's
stipulations, was finally launched last year.
Recent developments do give some
cause for cautious optimism. The AHA Centre, which serves as the coordination,
mobilisation and resource hub for disaster-affected areas, maintains the ASEAN
Disaster Information network, a community-based platform supplying situation
updates on disasters. It also set up a Disaster Monitoring and Response System
in April.
With natural disasters raising
concerns about adequate shelter, food and basic healthcare for affected and
displaced communities, the AHA Centre's performance in developing ASEAN's
disaster risk and response management strategies and actions needs to be
stepped up.
In this regard, learning the
critical value of collaboration in disaster management between ASEAN, national
governments and international humanitarian agencies is not enough.
A legal framework is being
negotiated by ASEAN's defence ministers and its dialogue partners to allow the
region to efficiently utilise the pooled resources of their security sectors
for regional disaster risk and response management. The AHA Centre must be the
focal point of this framework.
The AHA Centre could also promote
greater community-level resiliency through adaptation mechanisms such as
innovations in financing, architecture and engineering technology. It could
harness social media to disseminate information and raise awareness on disaster
preparedness mechanisms (such as early warning and monitoring systems). This is
where public-private partnerships can be valuable.
While developments such as AADMER
and the AHA Centre suggest that ASEAN is on track to becoming more strategic in
preparing for disasters, the region still has a long, challenging route ahead
in enhancing the region's resources for disaster preparedness, response and
management.
Gianna Gayle Amul
Gianna Gayle Amul is a Research Analyst with the Centre for
Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, S Rajaratnam School of International
Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
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