TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A high-level ASEAN-China cooperation forum held on Monday, February 1, 2016, underlined the importance of greater disaster resilience at the community and national level in today's new era of close cooperation and integration in the Southeast Asia region. The forum also highlighted that 10 ASEAN member countries experienced US$4.4 billion of direct loss annually because of natural disasters.
Adelina Dwi Ekawati, Director of the Sustainable Development Directorate of the ASEAN Secretariat's Socio-Cultural Community Department, said the that the region needed to address and adapt to a "new normal" of increasingly extreme and frequent weather events.
"The enormous socio-economic cost of such phenomenon not only hinders development prospects and productivity of our peoples, but it also poses a clear and present threat to our stability, environmental sustainability and multi-fold security, especially food security," Adelina said during the ASEAN-China Seminar on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, Monday, February 1, 2016.
Adelina said that in order to reduce the adverse impacts of natural and man-made disasters and climate changes, ASEAN member states must be able to strengthen its communities. In addition, Adelina also encourage better coordination between multiple sectors and improve partnerships with related stakeholders.
Adelina said that the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a 15-year global agreement that aims to curb deaths and economic losses from natural and man-made hazards signed in Japan last year, and the wider sustainable development and climate change agreements, is helping to guide the region's efforts to strengthen resilience.
Responding to the issue, Xu Bu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, of the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to ASEAN, said that natural hazards "continue to haunt" the Southeast Asian region. Xu said that the respective National Disaster Management Organizations (NDMO) would be crucial to efforts to increase regional cooperation in monitoring and forecasting, rescue and recovery.
"China has gained significant experience and is ready to share its know-how on disaster prevention and relief with our ASEAN friends," Xu said.
MAHINDA ARKYASA
