By Sim YH –
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 21 OCT – It is very important to ensure that all members of the ASEAN community, especially the most vulnerable groups, participate in the disaster preparedness and recovery plan.
In addition, a long-term solution to rehabilitate the local economy, rebuilding sources of income is also essential as well as ensuring the continued well-being of the affected population.
The point was emphasized by the Director of the National Disaster Management Center (NDMC), Ministry of Home Affairs, Colonel (B) Muhd Harrith Rashidi bin Haji Muhd Jamin in his speech while chairing the 45th ASEAN Disaster Management Committee (ACDM) Meeting and the meetings that related at Empire Brunei, Jerudong, today.
He believes that with strong regional cooperation, the region will be able to leverage collective expertise, share best practices and make ASEAN a more resilient region, where each individual will be more united in facing disasters with confidence and rebuild well.
In 2024, Brunei Darussalam is honored to be the Host and Chairman of the ACDM and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMDM) with the theme, Building a Resilient ASEAN Through Inclusive and Sustainable Disaster Recovery.
The 45th ACDM meeting for the second time this year was attended by ASEAN delegates from disaster management organizations (NDMO) from ASEAN member countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance in Disaster Management (AHA Center) and Timor-Leste as a country ACDM observers and dialogue partners from the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK).
The meeting serves as a forum to exchange views on strategic and current issues and to discuss the current progress and development status of several projects, programs and activities under ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) 2021-2025 or AWP 2021-2025 where there are three working groups that oversee and implement projects under AWP 2021-2025, namely the ACDM Working Group on Prevention and Mitigation (ACDM WG P&M), the ACDM Working Group on Preparedness, Response and Recovery (ACDM WG PRR) and the ACDM Working Group on Global Leadership (ACDM WG GL) as well as discuss the progress status of projects, programs and activities under the mechanism with ACDM dialogue partners such as Japan, China and the ROK.
In addition, several other meetings were also held such as the 21st AHA Central Governing Board (GB-AHA) Meeting, the 6th ASEAN Disaster Resilience Platform (ADRP) Meeting, the 8th ACDM Meeting with Japan, the ACDM Meeting with the People’s Republic of China -8th and 7th ROK Joint ACDM Meeting.
During the GB-AHA Meeting, the meeting discussed the financial status of the AHA Center, the contributing or donor countries as well as some of the main projects and operations of the AHA Center such as the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT), the ASEAN Disaster Emergency Logistics Storage Warehouse (DELSA) ), AHA Center Executive Program (ACE).
While the ASEAN Disaster Resilience Platform Meeting (ADRP) aims to provide a platform for ACDM and several ASEAN sectoral bodies related to disaster management projects to enable cross-sector cooperation from within ASEAN.
During the ACDM meeting with ASEAN dialogue partners from the People’s Republic of China, Japan and ROK, the meetings discussed the implementation of the work plan of ASEAN dialogue partner countries.
Following this, the 12th AMMDM will also be held and chaired by the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Honorable Dato Seri Setia Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman.