(13-05-2013)
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
members, including the ten ASEAN Member States, gathered for the third
ARF Disaster Relief Exercise (DiREx) in Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
from 7 to 10 May 2013. Using a scenario of 8.9-magnitude earthquake and
typhoon, disaster management agencies and emergency responders from
civil and military institutions of ARF members exercise their
coordination and disaster relief mechanisms. Key actors in disaster
relief operation in the Asia and Pacific region, including the ASEAN
Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assitance on disaster management
(AHA Centre), the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement, also actively participate in this event.
For the purpose of the exercise, AHA
Centre manages an on-site coordination centre, to provide assistance for
emergency rapid assessment, facilitate information sharing, and
coordinate with ASEAN Member States on resources deployed. The
ASEAN-Emergency Rapid Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT), which consists of
experienced assessment personnels from ASEAN Member States, were also
deployed to the field exercise to simulate post-disaster assessment and
provide detailed information from the field to the Emergency Operations
Centre led by the Government of Thailand. The AHA Centre’s onsite
coordination centre is co-located with the United Nations (UN) On-Site
Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC). ASEAN-ERAT is also deployed
together with the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team
managed by the UN OCHA.
ARF DiREx 2013 focuses on inter-agency
coordination and civil-military coordination. “ARF DiREx is unique as it
is by far the most inclusive simulation exercise in the Asia Pacific
region. ARF DIREX involves multiple agencies from the ARF members, the
civilian and military actors and the international humanitarian players.
Coordination issues and complexity of the international humanitarian
architecture as exercised in ARF DiREx represent the actual situation
when a disaster occurs in the region. Therefore, this unique character
of inclusiveness should be mantained in future exercises as part of
ARF’s efforts to improve civil military coordination and disaster relief
operations among the ARF participants”, Ms. Adelina Kamal, the Head of
Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (DMHA) Division of ASEAN
Secretariat said during the after-action review.
“ARF DiREx provides as a good
opportunity to exercise our ASEAN’s disaster response procedures and
mechanisms”, remarked Said Faisal, the Executive Director of AHA Centre.
“From this exercise, we are able to identify some useful lessons to
improve our support to the ASEAN Member States and strengthen
coordination with other humanitarian players in real disaster
situations.” It is the first time for the AHA Centre to play a
significant role in the ARF DiREx, following the official launch of the
Centre at the 19th ASEAN Summit in November 2011.
Sharing his views on the on-site
coordination centre managed by the AHA Centre, Pengiran Hj Shaharuddin
Bin Pengiran Hj Metali, a delegate from Brunei Darussalam reflects on
his past deployment experience, “I have been deployed to some disaster
response missions before, and we did not have such an onsite
coordination centre. Now disaster responders from the ASEAN Member
States can have a place where we can report to, a workspace, a place
where we can get to know responders from our neighboring countries, and
where we can get the information that we need. This will help us work
better. ”
The event is co-hosted by the Kingdom of
Thailand and the Republic of Korea. ARF DiREx is held on a bi-annual
basis to strengthen civil-military coordination and disaster relief
operation among the 27 ARF members.
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