ASEAN is also the most natural disaster-prone region in the world with more than 50 percent of global disaster mortalities occurred in the region during the period of 2004 to 2014. The rising frequency and intensity of disasters have resulted in greater economic loss, increase in the rate of disaster mortality and the number of displaced populations in the region. Reducing disaster risks is one of the top priorities of ASEAN to ensure that the region will achieve the target of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) sets as policy backbone for the ASEAN Member States to enhance their collective efforts in reducing disaster risks and responding to disasters in the region. 

However, to ensure a comprehensive and robust disaster management and emergency response system is in place requires a flexible and innovative implementation of the AADMER. Three mutually-inclusive strategic elements – Institutionalisation and Communications, Finance and Resource Mobilisation, and Partnerships and Innovations – are the key guiding principles identified in the ASEAN Vision on Disaster Management 2025 to guide the direction of the future implementation of the AADMER.

As ASEAN moves toward a more localized approach, it is important to look beyond national capitals and engage with subnational entities such as cities and provinces as key players in disaster management. In ASEAN, many initiatives have progressed with regard to partnership with civil society organisations which offers great advantage for swift and timely emergency response. For example, a consortium of seven (7) international organisations called AADMER Partnership Group (APG), which has significantly contributed to the institutionalisation of AADMER and in supporting the AHA Center as part of the ASEAN-ERAT, as well as contributing to the capacity building programme.  It is important to nurture these relationships and invest in new ones to expand the membership of APG and the number of NGOs affiliated to ASEAN over the next ten years as societies evolve and new actors emerge.  

ASEAN Leaders signed the Declaration on “One ASEAN One Response: ASEAN Responding to Disasters as One in the Region and Outside the Region” at the 28th ASEAN Summit in Lao PDR on 7 September 2016. The declaration laid out high-level and solid political commitments of ASEAN to achieve faster response, mobilize greater resources and establish stronger cross-sectoral and cross-pillar coordination to ensure ASEAN’s collective response to disasters. Through these mutually-inclusive strategic elements, ASEAN is trying to position itself as a pioneer in transforming the disaster management landscape in the Southeast Asian region and beyond, and strengthen its leadership to maintain ASEAN Centrality.  In doing so, ASEAN will also continue to further develop and apply its people-centered approach as a main priority. This approach will ensure inclusiveness and empower those who are most vulnerable such as women and children. 

As disasters affect all aspects of development, deeper cross-sectoral collaboration will be needed to fully implement a comprehensive disaster management strategy. It is essential that disasters are approached holistically across the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Political-Security Community and coordinated through the ASEAN Secretariat. The ASEAN Secretariat should administer dedicated platforms for cross-sectoral collaboration to actively engage others in implementing AADMER and to collaborate with other sectors mandated to cover, respond to and mitigate different types of risks with regional implications. This would move the region forward significantly to better assess the needs and provide protection during humanitarian crises.