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Strengthening ASEAN’s Collective Response Capacity through the Enhancement of the Capacity Building of the Regional ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) (2020 – 2022)

Proponent:The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (the AHA Centre)
Implementing Agency:The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (the AHA Centre)

Background

Southeast Asia is constantly at risk of natural disasters. Each year, natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, landslides, typhoons, among others exact a massive toll on total populations and cost the region billions of dollars. Responding to the need for regional mechanism for joint response and disaster risk reduction, ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2016-2020 places importance on strengthening the capacity for a fast, collective and reliable regional response.

In partnership with the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management (the AHA Centre), JAIF’s continuous support is reflected through ASEAN-Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT)1. ASEAN-ERAT Transformation Project – Phase I was implemented from 2016 to 2019 and contributed to the enhancement of ASEAN-ERAT’s capacities through several components such as enhancing curriculum and methodology of the ASEAN-ERAT courses, ASEAN-ERAT member’s skills and capacity in coordinating the ASEAN effort in responding to natural disaster, and ASEAN-ERAT deployment procedures to ensure swift deployment of the team. To date, there are 322 ASEAN-ERAT members that have been trained, in which 55 among them are further trained in the key course development namely Pilot ASEAN-ERAT Advanced courses. ASEAN-ERAT members are drawn from National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) and other related government authorities, as well as from civil society, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the private sector and academia. The pilot course is part of the advanced courses of ERAT managed by the AHA Centre. Supported by JAIF, it covers various topics including rapid assessment, information management, humanitarian logistics, ASEAN civil military coordination and early recovery.

With increasing frequency and severity of large scale disasters in the region vis-a-vis the desire to have a stronger nationally-led response, it has become more apparent that ASEAN-ERAT is required to bring more specialised technical skills to support local capacity of the NDMOs.

What is the project aiming for?

Strengthening ASEAN’s Collective Response Capacity through the Enhancement of the Capacity Building of the Regional ASEAN Emergency Response and Assessment Team (ASEAN-ERAT) (2020 – 2022) project will build on the gains of the previous project through the following:

  • Strengthen the system of the regional ASEAN-ERAT deployment that can reinforce the national response of ASEAN Member States; and
  • Strengthen the specialised skills of the regional ASEAN-ERAT deployment through development of modules and courses with total of 153 participants, five (5) deployment missions with at least 48 ASEAN-ERAT members.

The Ministers noted with satisfaction the achievements across all Priority Programmes of the AADMER Work Programme 2016-2020 this year including the adoption of the Guidelines on the Use of the ASEAN Emblem During Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), the launched of the report of the ASEAN ESCAP Joint Study on Drought, the conduct of the Pilot Advanced ASEAN-ERAT Courses, the establishment of two additional Disaster Emergency Logistics System for ASEAN (DELSA) satellite warehouses in the Philippines and Thailand, and the convening of the 5th ASEAN Strategic Policy Dialogue on Disaster Management (SPDDM).

Chairman’s Statement of the 7th Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management
and the 8th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to AADMER 
4 October 2019
Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar

The project contributes to the AADMER Work Programme 2016-2020 specifically under the Priority Programme 6,Equip: Enhanced Capacities for One ASEAN One Response.  It aims to contribute to the overall goal of ASEAN in “building resilient ASEAN Community to reduce disaster losses and collectively respond to disasters.” Its first Advisory Group and Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting was scheduled in March 2020 but the meeting was postponed due to the ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19).  The new date for the meeting will be determined in due course.

As of 31 August 2020

1 ASEAN-ERAT is a rapidly deployable response team to support the affected ASEAN Member States during major sudden and slow on-set disasters.

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