In Jakarta on 13-14 March 2018, the AHA Centre engaged about 50 participants in a two-day ASEAN Contingency Planning workshop for Indonesia. Participants came from different Indonesian line ministries involved in disaster response and disaster management, including the National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB), the Local Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Body (BMKG), the Department of Defence, the army, the Transportation Department, and the Ministry of Health.

Using a scenario of a large tsunami hitting the industrial city of Cilegon, the participants managed to identify at least 31 items, consisting of assets and capacities, that were categorised as immediate needs by the affected population. Included in the identified items are medicine, emergency medical teams, urban search and rescue teams, water treatment facility, and the needs of vulnerable groups: nutritious food for infants, breastfeeding mothers, and aid for people with disabilities. The workshop also stimulated discussions on transportation and logistics access, that would serve to enable timely distribution of humanitarian assistance from ASEAN Member States and partners.

The workshop is part of the AHA Centre’s effort to continue the development of the ASEAN Joint Disaster Response Plan (AJDRP). The AJDRP has identified three major disaster risks in the region–a major earthquake in Metro Manila, a super cyclone in the Ayeyarwady Delta in Myanmar, and tsunami caused by a megathrust earthquake in Indonesia. Three workshops, with Jakarta being the final, have now been undertaken using these scenarios, in order to enhance the speed, scale, and solidarity of ASEAN’s collective response to major disasters in the region. Similar workshops have been conducted in Manila, the Philippines, and Nay Pyi Taw in Myanmar in 2017.

With the conclusion of the workshop in Jakarta, the AHA Centre is now able to identify common needs in large-scale disasters, and consider how ASEAN can support the affected Member State(s) at such a time. However, it is important to highlight that any disaster response operation should always be nationally led, regionally supported, and internationally reinforced as and when necessary.

Arnel Capili, the Director of Operations of the AHA Centre, noted that ASEAN can only engage effectively if a relationship of trust has been developed within all the Member States. “We can only operate on the speed of trust”, he remarked, “which is why it is important to continue the dialogue, to build on what we already have, and move forward from there.”

Written by : Shintya Kurniawan | Photo : BNPB