Review of the ARF Activities on Disaster Relief

Presentation from Vietnam:

“Review of the ARF Activities on Disaster Relief”

by Sr. Colonel Pham Tan

THE FIFTH ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM INTERSESSIONAL MEETING

ON DISASTER RELIEF

Bandung, 30 November – 2 December 2005

Review of the ARF Activities on Disaster Relief

By Sr. Colonel Pham Tan

Director of Operational Division,

Ministry of National Defense of the SR Vietnam

Mr. Co-Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

First of all, please allow me on behalf of the Vietnamese delegation, to express our sincere thanks for the excellent arrangements and warmest hospitality extended to us by Indonesia and China during our arrival and stay in this beautiful city of Bandung. Using this occasion I also would like to stress that reconvening of the ARF ISM DR is one of the timeliest decisions of our forum in response to the needs of the region. As a matter of course, success of this meeting again will be an example of the ARF style and spirit, hence will stir the ARF process moving forward with a pace that comfortable to all participants.

Five years have been passing by since the day we met in Hanoi, Vietnam for the 4th ARF Inter-Sessional Meeting on Disaster Relief. During this time, together with the world, our region has to witness a number of tragedies caused by natural disasters to the life and wellbeing of nations in the region. Natural disasters including last year tsunami and earthquake waves in the Indian Ocean, the Katherine Storm in the United States of America and the recent earthquake in Pakistan, took hundreds of thousands of lives of innocent civilians, left million other people without a place for inhabitance. More seriously, those natural disasters have had a negative impact on the regional situation both in term of political and economic developments and it will take years for the affected countries’ governments and people to recover from the ruins that left by those tragedies. And this is the main reason for our convention to day.

Mr. Co-Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

To begin with the review of the last ISM Meeting in Hanoi, please allow me to touch briefly upon the results that the ARF had reached during the first three meeting in Wellington, Bangkok and Moscow.

At the first ARF ISM DR which took place in Wellington in July 1997, the ARF countries came to a number of broad consensuses on the needs to enhance the regional cooperation in disaster relief. Bearing in mind the seriousness of the situation, delegates agreed that discussion of disaster relief is an aspect of comprehensive security, natural disasters are common problem for all regional nations, the role of the armed forces in relation with to disaster relief although varied between ARF participants but is always significant, and therefore, there must be a comprehensive approach to disaster management, involving national plans of action, effective coordination and clear lines of authority.

Above all else, the first ARF ISM DR succeeded in outlining broad approaches to the regional cooperation in natural disaster management. The Meeting in Wellington paved the way for the next disaster relief related activities within the ARF framework.

Meeting for the 2nd time in Bangkok, the ARF ISM DR touched upon various organizational and structural aspects of the cooperation process in disaster relief. Convened in line of the spreading haze caused by forest fires across several areas in the region, all delegations realized the need of harmonizing actions in case of emergencies. This comprises in itself a number of actions including training and technical cooperation, early warning system development, regional disaster relief capabilities database establishment.

Furthermore, countries participants at the 2nd ARF ISM DR Meeting in Bangkok tabled several initiatives based on their findings. Those initiatives varied from organizing workshops, training courses, study tours etc. and were of great helps to the ARF experts in the field of disaster relief. In a broader sense, the Meeting in Bangkok marked a new stage for the cooperation process. Exchange of views and information has become customary for all ISM Meetings. One among the most significant results of this meeting was, of course, that countries agreed future joint and combined military exercises, whether bilateral or multilateral, undertaken by ARF participants should, as appropriate, incorporate disaster relief activities.

The 3rd ARF ISM DR took place in April 1999 in Moscow, this was the first time ever ARF countries had a detailed discussions on technical aspects of the disaster management process. Participants paid great attention to the three main topics including awareness, enhancing capabilities and facilitating cooperation in disaster relief efforts. Also during this meeting, countries atempted to establish a Conceptual Framework for ARF Activities in Disaster Management and Response.

From the organizational point of view, the meeting in Moscow helped the ARF ISM DR in compiling a list of national contact points for disaster relief activities. An updated list of the national contact points for disaster relief would create a friendly circle of the ARF’s government officials who in their turn will be able to identify who to contact in case of emergency.

Encouraged by the successful results of the previous meetings, ARF countries met for the fourth time in Hanoi in May 2000. During the meeting ARF countries had extensive and fruitful discussions both on operational and organizational aspects of the regional cooperation process related to disaster relief.

From the operational point of views, it was agreed that inter-agency coordination, especially between the military and civilian agencies, plays a crucial role in the process of disaster relief. Furthermore, a steering body comprising of representatives from the concerned agencies with clear cut regulations should be established to ensure smoth and timely coordinations among concerned agencies.

The role of the armed forces, the military in particular, during the disaster relief process also was discussed at the 4th ARF ISM DR. Participants highlited the crucial role of the armes forces in the distaer relief efforts within the national boundaries. The high mobility, the discipline and the ready-to use equipment and large manpower of the armed forces greatly attributed to the success of disaster relief operations.

Another important issue discussed at the meeting was means for future Co-operation among ARF Participants in disaster preparedness and disaster relief. Once again the important meaning of informationa exchange and experience sharing was touched upon. It was recognized that putting disaster related data onto the Website of individual countries so that others can visit is a simple and low-cost but very efficient way of information sharing. In line with this notion, the meeting saw great benefits in utilizing data obtained from satellites in order to forecast and monitor disasters.

As discussions flowed by, participants considered early warning as a “critical component of disaster preparedness and mitigation.” Therefore, the Meeting decided to facilitate cooperation in this area by compilation of a list of the Early Warning capabilities of individual countries. The information would be soon released.

With regards to the training in disaster relief, participants of the Hanoi Meeting saw great demands and potential among the ARF participants. Therefore, The Meeting shared the view that the existing training, establishments in the region could be utilized to meet the need for training, in ARF participating countries on bilateral, sub-regional and regional basis.

Promoting awareness is of importance in disaster preparedness and mitigation, especially for developing countries, where the public awareness of disasters is still low and the government’s capabilities are limited due to financial constraints therefore, in order to improve the public awareness, apart from efforts by individual country, support and assistance from other ARF countries and international organizations would be helpful.

At the end of the meeting, the 4th ISM DR made several recommends to the ARF SOM, decision making body of the ARF. Those included four main areas to focus on to enhance cooperation in disaster relief and mitigation such as: exchange of experience and information sharing; enhancing individual and regional capacities for disaster preparedness and disaster relief through mutual assistance and networking; training with emphasis on providing specific skills in disaster management; and promoting greater awareness of the government agencies and the in disaster preparedness and disaster relief.

Mr. Co-Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In conclusion I would like to stress that the ARF ISM-DR contributed and continues to contribute significantly to the overall goals of enhancing confidence and mutual trust through practical cooperation in disaster relief among the ARF participants. However, a balance needs to be kept in pursuing objectives of ARF cooperation in disaster relief especially between confidence-building and operational requirements. And we are of the view that the implementations of various activities should be undertaken at a pace comfortable to all in order to further cooperation among ARF participants in the common efforts in disaster management./.