UN Humanitarian Chief Strengthens Ties with Southeast Asia

(Bangkok/New York, 23 March 2012): The investment by Southeast Asian countries in building their national capacities to manage disasters more effectively is changing disaster response dynamics in the region.

Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator has just completed a four country visit to Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand to discuss with governments and their national disaster response agencies recent experiences in disaster management.

Both Thailand and Cambodia were affected last year by the Southeast Asia floods and Ms Amos says the international community can learn from their experiences.

“I was encouraged by the response of the national authorities in Cambodia and Thailand and I have asked if we can be part of their lessons learned process so that the international humanitarian system can improve its support in future large scale disasters,” said Ms. Amos.

She also highlighted the leading role Indonesia and Singapore have played as strong supporters of ASEAN in disaster management.

“Indonesia and Singapore have been instrumental in driving forward an ASEAN regional agenda for disaster response to support national governments in their increasingly active and central role,” she said.

During her tour, Ms Amos met senior ASEAN officials and visited the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA) in Jakarta, Indonesia where she highlighted the importance of UN and ASEAN cooperation in responding to disasters.

“We are keen to support the new AHA centre so it can be up and running as soon as possible. We have offered our knowledge and expertise to help support its initiatives, which will ultimately ensure the most effective response when the next disaster strikes.” In 2011, there were 107 natural disasters in Asia-Pacific, almost half of the worldwide total. This affected more than 176 million people in this region. The economic losses in Asia-Pacific amounted to US$296 billion. This represents 80 per cent of the total losses worldwide.