ASEAN-Plus nations hold exercises on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief

Jakarta (VNA) – The Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Experts' Working Group (EWG) of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) launched live exercises in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on October 16.

Held from October 16-20, the exercises were co-chaired by Indonesia and India, attracting the participation of representatives from the Defence Ministries and HADR experts from 18 ADMM-Plus member states, the ASEAN Secretariat and the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre).

During this exercise, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake is assumed to happen in 20 seconds on the island of Java, resulting in a 22m high tsunami, causing serious damage throughout the southern region of Java island. Faced with that situation, a large-scale humanitarian assistance and disaster relief campaign would attract the participation of ASEAN members and partner countries.

It also includes roundtable discussions on ASEAN's operational mechanism in disaster management through the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Regional Standby Arrangements and Coordination of Joint Disaster Relief and Emergency Response Operations, SOP of ASEAN Militaries Ready Group (AMRG), SOP of Multi-National Coordination Centre (MNCC), and that of each country for receiving international humanitarian assistance.

This year's event also includes field exercises on implementing the mechanism for receiving international support based on the above-mentioned SOPs, as well as implementing the response, recovery and reconstruction phases, such as search and rescue (SAR), emergency medical teams (EMTs), and post-disaster social services./.