Today, the ASEAN Secretariat opened the “ASEAN High-Level Symposium on Disaster Management 2020” to improve regional policies and strategies on disaster management. The two-day event is organized with the support from the Chinese Government and in collaboration with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of Indonesia as knowledge partner. The Symposium is critical for ASEAN in strengthening cooperation among sectors involved in disaster management given that the region is one of the most disaster-prone in the world.
In his opening speech, ASEAN Secretary‐General Dato Lim Jock Hoi indicated that “there is also greater scope for the ASEAN Secretariat to be more proactive in order to serve the Member States in times of disaster through the role of the ASEAN Secretary-General as ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator (AHAC).”
He mentioned that in this role, AHAC will spearhead coordination, mobilization of resources, and cooperation among the three pillars of ASEAN Community with international actors.
Meanwhile, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to ASEAN Deng Xijun stated that, “the outbreak of COVID-19 has made us feel deeply the amity and friendship between China and ASEAN. It also highlights the fact that we, as nations linked by land and water, share one destiny.”
He further added that “China is ready to work together with ASEAN in greater unity to advance cooperation on disaster management as we are building a closer community with a shared future for peace, security, and prosperity of our region.”
As current chair of the ASEAN sectoral body on disaster management who represented the Minister in-charge of Disaster Management, Under-Secretary Ricardo Jalad of the Philippines Office of Civil Defense conveyed that millions of people are pushed into poverty every year by disasters.
“No less, the President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte pointed out this fact that disasters are ‘poverty generators’, emphasizing the need to further strengthen resilience through concrete measures of prevention, mitigation, preparedness, and climate change adaptation,” said Jalad.
The need for enhanced engagement and cross-pillar collaboration is increasingly important as the challenges of disaster management becomes more complex due to increased climate-related events and environmental degradation.
At the symposium, participants exchanged views on ways to advance ASEAN’s resilience, particularly the need for a whole-of-society approach, the promotion of climate change adaptation policies and responses, and improved management of different types of disasters.
The symposium comprised of sessions on political dynamics and disaster policymaking, early warning systems and response operations, community resilience, disaster risk financing, better reconstruction and rehabilitation, and global partnership on disaster management. The outcome will be utilized as reference for policy-making of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management and other sectoral bodies.
More than 160 regional and international participants representing stakeholders in disaster management attended the symposium. Participants ranged from high-level officials, ASEAN sectoral bodies, academia, the business sector, and non-governmental organizations.
