MALAYSIA
By Said Faisal*
The New Straits Times-Mar 20
ASEAN provides the Southeast Asian region with a strategic umbrella for important economic, political, security and socio-cultural initiatives.
The ASEAN experience has demonstrated that it offers a successful and progressive model of regional cooperation in disaster management.
It is most notable in disaster responses where the 10 ASEAN member states have come together to provide a regional coordination mechanism for disaster relief.
In 2011, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre on Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre) was established, a significant milestone in regional cooperation on disaster response and disaster management.
Five years on, reflecting on its successes, three key elements can be identified — political will, operational capacity and emotional bonds — that were critical to regional cooperation in disaster response.
Since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed 230,000 to 280,000 people and devastated coastal communities in 14 countries, the member states have solidified their political commitment to disaster management.
The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (Aadmer) was signed in Vientiane, Laos, in July 2005, six months after the tsunami, which was a quick turnaround for a regional agreement. It reflected the scale of the disaster and the political will to cooperate in such a crisis.
Aadmer was essentially the political and legal commitment to deepen cooperation on disaster management in the region.
Embodied in the agreement was the commitment to establish the AHA Centre.
The agreement came into legal force in 2009, and the center was established two years later in Jakarta.
This was made possible by the agreement to set up the centre signed at the ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in 2011.
In 2015, ASEAN member states unveiled the ASEAN Vision 2025 on disaster management, which outlined what the region should achieve in the next decade.
In 2016, to achieve faster, bigger, and unified response towards disasters, member nations signed the ASEAN declaration on One ASEAN One Response to respond to disasters as one, in the region and outside.
After the center was established, it became the full-time “operational engine” to turn political commitment, policies and decisions into action.
It operates multiple aspects of coordination, such as information management, operating procedures, regional response planning, resource mobilization including the emergency response fund, the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-Erat), and the Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (Delsa).
These form the main operational mechanism and instruments of disaster response at the regional level. The center has the mandate, the mechanism and the funding to turn words into action.
This all came about because practitioners equipped with an emergency mindset sit on the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), which focuses on execution and delivering fast results.
It is this committee that designed and governs the center.
Disaster management is a prime example of a people-to-people connection in ASEAN. In an ASEAN disaster response, the ASEAN-Erat train together, deploy together and have their own network for keeping in contact.
Similarly, the AHA Centre Executive (ACE) progra lasts for a six-month period during which time strong bonds of friendship develop.
ACDM and its working groups build trusting relationships and friendships through meetings and events, including the ASEAN Regional Disaster Emergency Response Simulation Exercise (Ardex).
This emotional bonding instils the “we feeling” in member states because as soon as disaster strikes, the responders are not meeting strangers but friends. This is a unique element of regional cooperation in disaster response as it is much easier to work with people you know and trust.
These three elements — political will, operational capacity and emotional bonds — are mutually reinforcing. If invested together, these three components are well placed for regional cooperation in disaster management.
It is important to recognize that there are seven years left to achieve ASEAN Vision 2025 to become a global leader in disaster management.
ASEAN is well placed to make this happen through sharing its expertise outside the region, developing stronger links with universities and think tanks like RSIS to provide global thought leadership on disaster management, and continue to build trust and capacity in ASEAN on disaster management.
However, it is important to consider two issues that will determine the future of the center. The first is to ensure adequate financial contributions by member states to boost the center’s sustainability and the capacity.
The second is the future role and function of the center as it coordinates regional response beyond natural disasters.
It is also important for the center to remain focused on operations, continue to maintain the trust and confidence of member states, and for ACDM to remain in the driving seat. It is important to continue the momentum ASEAN has generated to reach its aim of becoming a global leader in disaster management by 2025.
It is a bold, ambitious and important vision that will transform ASEAN and ensure it stays relevant not only in the region but also in the world in disaster management.
*Said Faisal is a visiting senior fellow with the HADR Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also senior adviser to minister/head of the National Disaster Management Agency of Indonesia and the former executive director of the Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (AHA Centre).
(first published in The New Straits Times – https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2018/03/347138/asean-tackles-disasters)
