Regional Workshop for the Development of the ASEAN Regional Program on Disaster Management

Organized by the ASEAN Secretariat, with ADPC assistance and funding support from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the Regional Workshop for the Development of the ASEAN Regional Program on Disaster Management (ARPDM) was held from 25-27 March 2002 in Bangkok. The workshop developed a framework for cooperation among ASEAN Member Countries on disaster management, supported by a concrete regional action plan, for presentation at the 12th meeting of the ASEAN Experts’ Group on Disaster Management (AEGDM) in Hanoi in September 2002.

The need for ASEAN cooperation on natural disasters and calamities was among the first envisioned by ASEAN leaders and was enunciated in the ASEAN declaration on Mutual Assistance on Natural Disasters in 1976. In 1996, the development of an ASEAN Regional Program on Disaster Management was first proposed at the 9th AEGDM Meeting in Manila. The 11th AEGDM Meeting in 2000 in Chiang Rai endorsed the priority development of the program.

Key officials of national disaster management offices of the ASEAN Member Countries identified priority areas for cooperation, looked at regional capacities in disaster management, deliberated program objectives and components, and identified activities, implementation and monitoring and evaluation arrangements, and funding sources under each component.

Featured speakers at the workshop included Prof Dr Krasae Chanawongse, Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the ADPC Board of Trustees; Mr Yong Chanthalangsy of the ASEAN Secretariat, delivering an address by H E Rodolfo C Severino, Secretary General of ASEAN; and Ms Laure Boutinet of ECHO Brussels. 

Policies, Legal and Institutional Arrangements, and Plans for Disaster Management

Thirty disaster management practitioners from national and local disaster management offices, government agencies, non-governmental, regional and international organizations, in ten Asian countries met from 25-27 April 2002 in Bangkok, Thailand, to share experiences and lessons learned on the implementation of policies, legal and institutional arrangements, and plans for disaster management. The goal was to learn from the experiences of others and enhance understanding of what is working well, what could be improved, and strategies for making improvements. The workshop was funded by ECHO, USAID/OFDA, ADB, AusAID and DANIDA.

Participants were aware that each country has distinct disaster management systems. However, they discussed an “ideal system” and its policy, legal, institutional and planning components. Examples include:

• Policy which outlines a general direction and commitment of resources. It should have a vision, guided by a philosophy and be easy to understand. Its goal should be the protection of lives.
• An ideal legal system should provide a clear mandate, distribution, roles, duties and responsibilities, including line of command and coordination.
• The ideal institutional scheme should be divided into five levels: community or village, city, provincial, regional and national.
• Good planning would be multi-sectoral and multi-level, with appropriate linkages at different levels, both horizontally and vertically.

Participants identified three potential next steps:

• Multi-sectoral, issue-driven dialogues within countries. Important issues identified were community-based disaster management approaches and political commitment.
• Sub-regional workshops, conveying lessons learned and good practice. Participants appreciated learning from other countries.
• Assistance on information collection, analysis, research, facilitating dialogue, technical assistance and training on planning. There is a need to document and create a research agenda. Suggested topics were ways for attracting funding for disaster management, and how to shift the paradigm from relief to a culture of prevention.